


Feelings are Cliche

by Rustbuckethoe



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coran owns a car wash, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Guitarist Lance (Voltron), Happy Ending, Human Coran (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance owns a vw bus, M/M, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt is a Good Friend, Pining Lance (Voltron), Summer AU, keith works at a carwash, lance does yoga, lance sings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24081952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rustbuckethoe/pseuds/Rustbuckethoe
Summary: Keith moves to Cuba for the summer looking for a fresh start and struggles with new romantic feelings, an oddball group of friends, and a newfound connection with the ocean.ORKeith bullies Lance for being a hippie and lance's only comeback is to call him mullet.*tags will be added to as story progresses*
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 43





	1. Mullet and Rust Bucket

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic and it's based off a dream I had that I jsut felt needed a full story. Please give constructive criticism and tips on how to build setting cuz I suck at that lol k bye more notes at end
> 
> Edit: hello hi I made a playlist for this fic a long time ago but realized I should put it here idk if this link will work tho :D (most chapters + the title are based on these songs lmao):  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6VRpJJ2tQJwloUVRqJF3yU?si=cpLasyZaRvC-6ccV2gCMzQ

The ocean is one of those things in life where you can never quite keep up. Pushing and pulling, the waves go crashing back and forth, no matter how much you chase or try to avoid. Yet, when you stand perfectly still on a beach, the waves can almost always reach you at some point. What is it with life that what you are looking for seems impossible to find, and what you aren’t seeking finds you everywhere you go?

»

Hot.

That is all that registers in Keith’s mind as he steps out of the airport. Cuba is hot. His dark, shoulder-length hair sticks to his now sweaty neck and he squints his eyes as he looks around. He also feels the sun blaring down and already burning his pale ass skin.

Now, Keith is not an idiot. Of course, he knew Cuba would be a hot place to move to, he even has experience with extreme temperatures being from Texas, but Cuba is humid and bright and overwhelmingly filled with so many people and oh god this was a mistake-

“Keith! You made it,” Pidge calls out to him, snapping him back to reality, all his doubts forgotten. He spots the short girl leaned up against an old, slightly beat up, but obviously well-loved Volkswagen Bus. He raises his eyebrows at her as he makes his way over.

“You have got to be shitting me,” he says immediately and sets down his bags to take a look, “you own one of these old things?” After he gets over the shock of the old hippie thing, his eyes reach Pidge’s again, who is smirking knowingly at him.

“Pfft- As if,” she swats the air, “I’m borrowing it from a friend to pick your pitiful ass and luggage up.” She moves to pick up the smallest bag, leaving the heavy lifting to Keith. He rolls his eyes as Pidge slams the sliding door open and tosses his bag in, him following suit. They both then climb into the front seats of the red and white VW classic. As she starts the van up, it makes a grumbling sound, but gets going, nonetheless.

“You sure we’ll be able to make it more than a few blocks in this rust bucket?” Keith giggles at himself, and Pidge gives him a lighthearted glare. She looks so tiny steering the giant wheel in such a big vehicle. He buckles his seatbelt and turns his attention to the window to see what his new home over the summer will be looking like.

“You better not say that shit around Lance, he’ll have a fit,” she says as they both laugh and set off to her apartment. “By the way, this is most likely a one-time thing, it took me three days to even take it away from him for today. The rest of the summer you’ll be stuck to biking around town.” At that, Keith lets out a groan.

“Wait who’s Lance again?”

»

Keith stares out the window at the beach. It looks like it’s high tide, so not many people are out and about. He considers himself lucky his friend is such a tech-wiz that she can afford such a luxurious apartment with this type of view. I need a job really bad damnit, Keith thinks to himself. He doesn’t want to just mooch off his friend, he’s not that lazy, but what jobs are even available? He tells himself he’ll start searching tomorrow and leave today to get unpacked and explore the town a bit while Pidge is returning the bus back to this Lance guy. If you asked him, he would say Lance sounds like a pretty dorky guy, obsessing over an old bus.

He turns away from the window and the waves, deciding to head out to look around town because he doesn’t feel like unpacking right now. As he walks down the sidewalks, looking into touristy shops and restaurants, he feels… at ease. It’s almost relaxing watching others just having fun and doing whatever they want. He spots an ice-cream shop and notes to come back because he’s a hoe for some mint chocolate chip. Ah, to be wandering at sunset, unbothered-

Suddenly, Keith is on the ground, holding his throbbing forehead, a man with a mustache standing next the door that just K.O.-ed his face. “Oh my god I am so sorry!” Said man with mustache shouts from above him, which makes his headache undeniably worse. They lean down to look into his eyes, far too close to his face than Keith would consider proper for two strangers. “Are you okay?”

Keith closes his eyes and takes the hand the man reaches out to help him to his feet. “I’m fine, no thanks to your incessant yelling,” Keith mutters grumpily, still rubbing his head to soothe the distant pain. He finally gets a good look at the man, who has a curly orange mustache, his (also orange) eyebrows raised, and a dorky uniform advertising “Coran’s Car Wash”.

“I’m terribly sorry, I was in such a rush I didn’t see you walking past. Anything I could do to make it up to ya?” Keith takes another look at him, and he honestly feels a bit bad for being so rude. The man, presumably named Coran, genuinely looks sorry for the mistake.

“Umm, yeah no, it’s fine,” Keith begins to wave goodbye when an idea comes to mind. “Actually, do you happen to know where I could get a job around here? I’m pretty new.”

Coran looks a little surprised at the sudden flip in personality. “I’m actually looking for new recruits for my car wash, if and you’re interested I could interview you. Right now, I have some extra time before I head out,” he says with a nod towards the direction of the little building he walked out of as well as the larger car wash buildings. “I’m Coran by the way,” he adds on as an afterthought with a little laugh, gesturing to his uniform.

“That would actually be great,” Keith takes the opportunity as soon as it’s given. He does not feel like searching for a job when a perfectly nice guy right here is offering one up on a platter. Coran gives him a sparkling grin and they head into the building to fill out some paperwork and hopefully get Keith started with a job.

»

“HHAAHHAHAHAH THIS IS FREAKING GOLD OH MY GOD!” Keith glares into nothing with a frown on his face, barely holding back from throwing the twerp out the door. Literally throwing her. He glances to Pidge, who is crouched down to the floor holding her stomach, obviously not even attempting to contain her laughter.

“Look it’s not that bad and I need a job can you just-” More. Laughter. Erupts.

“PFFT NOT THAT BAD, THAT’S FUNNY KEITH,” Pidge finally stands, pointing up and down at his getup. It really wasn’t as bad as Pidge made it out to be, but on Keith anything this… enthusiastic… was absolutely horrid looking. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, looking down at his new uniform. He was currently sporting a white button up with an orange logo sewed on the left side of his chest, ugly khaki shorts reaching his knees, and the worst of all, an orange bucket hat that matched the shade of Coran’s logo and mustache. Okay, so maybe it was as bad as Pidge said it was, but it brought in the money so was it really that bad? Keith risked a glance back at his short friend who brought a finger to her eyes to wipe away tears- yeah it was definitely pretty bad.

“Pidge can you shut the fuck up and let me get back to work,” Keith grumbled and walked out from behind the desk he stood at, pushing Pidge’s face out of his way, even as she swatted her arms around trying to stop him. “Why are you even here,” he said, facepalming. She cackled maniacally as he walked out of the small building to greet a customer who was currently bent over their car trying to use a squeegee and failing miserably. When Keith recognized the vehicle instantly, he smirked a little to himself.

“Excuse me, can I help you with that,” Keith said as he tapped the man on the shoulder, who whipped around, squeegee in hand, looking ready to fight. Keith raised his eyebrows, as if to question you think you could fight me with a squeegee?

“Uhh,” The man looked from Keith, to the squeegee, and back to Keith, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Sorry I thought you were my friend,” he let out a little laugh, and by god did Keith’s knees nearly buckle at the beautiful sound. Keith looked the guy up and down, determining he was probably around his age. He looked to be a local, with his golden skin on display under a blue and white striped tank top and brown hair in an unruly mess of curls. His eyes even seemed to portray the ocean only a few blocks away.

“That’s okay,” Keith eyed him suspiciously, “did you need any help?” He gestured to the windshield. The tan guy handed him his squeegee with a sharp nod and stepped back and away to let Keith work his magic. “Okay first of all you gotta add cleaner and water...” Keith snorted at the cute guy’s idiocy. Wait, cute? I mean- fuck. Okay. Keith pointed to the machine with the hose and cleaning solution, “could you spray some water on the windshield for me?”

“Sure,” the guy said as he walked around the vehicle and unhooked the hose, “Thanks for helping me out by the way.” He attempted to spray the water, but the hose seemed to be jammed. He continued to click and unclick the button multiple times. “Umm I don’t think it’s working,” he said as the hose suddenly sprayed a pressurized blast of water where it was aimed at… Keith.

Keith inhaled sharply through his nose; his eyes closed as he tried to not strangle the handsome guy. “I think it’s working,” Keith responded with a fake smile plastered to his face, as his uniform stuck to his chest and his bangs stuck to his forehead. The other guy only let out a few more giggles.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry I swear that was an accident! It was really stuck!” Keith let his fit of laughter die out, before responding. It seemed as though ever since he arrived to this city people were apologizing to him left and right after getting him into their messes. He looked up to the golden boy again, deciding his smile almost made the accident worth it. But not quite-

Keith snatched a bucket of soapy water and dumped it over golden boy’s head. The beautiful smile disappeared and was replaced with a dropped jaw and wide eyes. He picked up the soapy sponge that was now next to his feet and prepared to throw it at Keith who held up his hands with a small smile, “hey, hey, truce. I call truce, we’re even now.”

“You’re just scared, Mullet,” golden boy challenged. Now it was Keith’s turn to drop his jaw and gape, but he took the bait.

“I don’t have a mullet!” Keith grasped at his dark hair on the back of his neck that peeked out below his bucket hat then said with a pout, “and I’m not scared.” He looked around for material to tease the golden boy with. When he found what he was looking for, he crossed his arms with a smirk, “At least I don’t have an old rust bucket for a ride,” Keith gestured to the VW bus and said, before golden boy had a chance to respond, “you must be… Chance, was it? Right?”

Lance gaped back once again, sputtering, “Wh- No! No, no, no, the names Lance.” How could this even be the guy Pidge spoke of though? He didn’t seem too dorky, just handsome as far as Keith could tell. Finally, recognition passed through his narrowed eyes as the gears seemed to shift in his head, “Wait are you-”

“Keith!” He turned around to see Pidge standing behind him, “I see you’ve met Lance. Coran wants you back up at the cash register. Don’t worry, I got this covered,” she snatched the squeegee out of Keith’s hand and pushed him towards the little building. He gave her a questioning look to which she responded with, “Go on!”

Keith chanced one more look back at Lance, who flipped him off and raised his eyebrows with what seemed to be a taunting and signature smirk. Keith only sent his middle finger right back with a roll of his eyes and turned around to walk back to his job, soaked clothes forgotten.


	2. Vodka Lemonade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge invites Keith to a small campfire hang out where he meets Hunk and Allura as well as learns more about Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi um idk if this is triggering but I'll psot it anyway: this chapter contains consumption of alcohol, these characters are aged-up though, out of college so they are of drinking age. Oki have fun reading! <3
> 
> Also: listen to the song Vodka lemonade by Bella coppola while you read, this chapter was loosely based around it and it's really good! :^)

Water is affected easily, just like humans with their simple yet intense emotions. One small factor dropped in can cause huge ripples beyond imagination. Ranging from a lily pad barely being bumped across the surface of a body of water, all the way to a boat speeding through and disrupting an ecosystem, water is affected very easily. In the human mind, the smallest interaction can make or break someone’s day, and the most toxic person in someone’s life can cause the end of everything they’ve ever worked for. Emotion is affected very easily. Like the ripples in a lake, we are affecting everything and anything in one move.

»

Keith is giggling. Keith is smiling. Keith is definitely a little tipsy. But Keith is also relaxed, for once.

He knew when Pidge invited him here, he should at least _try_ to keep himself in check, but then Lance offered him a drink, and he heard he’d be meeting some of their other friends, and Keith figured it’d do him good to have a little drink to relax a bit and let loose. He finds himself unwinding a little _too_ easily, but to understand completely, context is a must:

Pidge and Keith arrived at Lance’s little nook on the beach a little after dusk. Already, Lance and Pidge’s other friends sat around on logs around a fire, which Keith noticed was bringing out the golden color of Lance’s skin, especially against the harsh dark of the approaching night. Keith also observed that they all had red solo cups in hand as well as Lance’s classic rust bucket off to the side, the large door open with seating and blankets and fairy lights decorating the inside.

Keith glanced back at Lance, who was already looking at him, so he then looked away feeling a bit shy suddenly. Pidge only shoved him forward, ready to make conversation and introductions.

“Hey guys, this is my buddy Keith! Lance you’ve already met him last week,” she patted Keith on the back and gestured to the other two people, “Keith, meet Hunk and Allura.” As the two strangers looked him up and down, Keith gave a small wave and chewed his lip nervously. Pidge certainly didn’t miss Lance’s eyes lingering on Keith’s nervous habit. She cleared her throat. “So, yup, what do we have to eat? I’m starving!”

Hunk, a big guy with dark skin and dark hair, held out a plate of cheeseburgers. “Grilled ‘em myself,” he offered Keith a friendly smile as Allura added, “Hunk’s a chef at one of the local restaurants, so trust us when we say his food is to die for.”

Keith sat with the two for a bit, chatting about their time in Cuba, how they became friends with Lance and Pidge, etc. When Keith brought up Lance’s “rust bucket”, they gave each other knowing looks as Keith, blissfully unaware, continued to ramble about how VW buses were “a slow piece of shit to drive”. Lance, fortunately, didn’t catch that bit as he debated with Pidge about god knows what.

“What brings _you_ to Cuba, Keith?” Allura asks innocently, swaying the topic from Lance back to Keith. However, this triggered a panic in Keith’s mind, due to his reason for coming here.

“Uhh,” Keith’s eyes widened and he scratched at the back of his neck, “just looking for a new place and a fresh start I guess.” Allura side eyed him, but thankfully let him off the hook as Hunk took over.

“How’s staying at Pidge’s place? She can be kind of a messy roommate when she gets caught up in her work,” he glances over to the midget, “She basically forgets the rest of the world is still going on around her.”

Keith gives a laugh at that, thankful for the out. “Nah, she’s not too bad. She does walk in on me in the bathroom a lot though since there isn’t a lock and she’s not used to me around,” he laughs, but also grimaces at the thought. “I should be thanking her no matter what anyway for giving me a place to stay. I don’t feel as bad now that I’ve got my job at the car wash though, I can actually help pay for rent even though she says she doesn’t care.”

Allura and Hunk nod in understanding and the three fall into a relaxed pattern of conversation until Pidge comes over and shuffles into Keith’s spot, effectively forcing him to talk to Lance. That little devil-

He takes his place next to the golden boy on the log and because he couldn’t think of any other conversation starter he says, “I see you’ve got ol’ rust bucket out here as well.”

Lance awards Keith with his signature smirk, “Hey, don’t make fun of Baby! You’re just jealous I’ve got such a sweet ride, picking up all the babes.” Keith rolls his eyes, and a small silence overcomes them far too soon into the conversation. Keith looks down at his hands as he fiddles with the sleeves of his dark green shirt while Lance sipped at his drink. Lance notices the awkwardness. “Hey, you want a drink? I can make you my specialty,” he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Keith eyed him suspiciously, “Should I be worried?? You seem like the crazy drinker type.”

Lance feigned shock, placing his hand against his chest. “Keith, buddy. Trust Lancey Lance over here. My drinks are the _best._ ” Lance pulled Keith to his feet to drag him to the VW bus where the cooler filled with ice and a plethora of drinks was located. Keith sat in the opening of the bus and looked around inside a bit. Lance raised an eyebrow at him and pulled out a can of lemonade and a large bottle of vodka. He grabbed a cup and mixed the two together, then handed it to Keith to give it a taste.

Keith raised his eyebrows back at Lance but drank it anyway. He gave a distasteful expression as the bitter liquid burned his throat. He continued sipping anyway. Lance just laughed as he poured himself a drink.

Keith looked back inside the bus, noticing a guitar. “You play?”

Lance glanced at what Keith was referring to and a grin overtook his perfect features. “Do I! I’ve been learning guitar since I could sing. Which was young,” he giggled a bit, “You want me to play you some?” Keith nodded with a small shrug.

They headed back to the log with their drinks and the guitar and Lance plucked at the strings. All Keith could think was _how can someone so beautiful play something equally as breathtaking?_ He closed his eyes, letting the music and drink overtake him in the moment.

They sit like that for a while, until Keith notices Lance has stopped playing. He opens his eyes and looks to his right at the golden boy who is already looking at him. Keith raises his eyebrows, “why’d you stop?”

Lance stares into Keith’s violet irises for what seems like a lifetime and finally says, “I got distracted.” Keith’s mouth parts the smallest bit and they continue to stare into each other’s eyes.

Keith looks away suddenly, “So, um, why did you start playing guitar?” Lance looks at Keith a little bit longer, then sighs and looks away.

“I was kind of a mess growing up, and my mama introduced it to me as a way to sort out and channel my feelings,” Lance says as he taps his fingers on the wood, “I know it sounds a little cheesy, but it really did help. Plus, I fell in love with it as soon as I started.” He smiles to himself at that thought.

Keith glances back, “So what’re you feeling now?” Lance just gives him a confused “hm?” in response. Keith grumbles and rephrases, “I mean, what would you play right now to express your feelings. Like, how would it sound, I guess?”

Lance stares longingly at Keith, debate going on in his mind. Keith of course is oblivious to his inner turmoil. “Oh,” Lance says softly, and clears his throat, “Um, something like…” He scrunches his mouth to one side and furrows his eyebrows in thought. Then he begins to play a soft picking pattern leaving Keith with a fluffy feeling in his stomach. Keith’s eyes are half closed in some sort of trance when Lance speaks up again. “Umm, it’s still a work in progress, but that’s how I’ve been feeling lately.”

Keith’s eyes widen a bit at that. “You write songs?” Lance only nods and runs a hand through his curls. “Cool.” They fall into that awkward silence again and Pidge seems to notice so she decides now is the time for s’mores.

A pack of marshmallows is chucked at Keith’s face, effectively taking him out as he lands in the sand on his back behind the log. Lance laughs and sets his guitar to the side, snatching the fluffy sugary goodness from Keith’s face for himself. Keith sends him a glare and gets back to a sitting position, snatching some marshmallows back.

Keith seems content as they toast the sugar in the embers of the previously roaring fire and tell camping horror stories as well as roast Lance for being a hippie dweeb. “Okay I may love my Baby, and I admit I walk around barefoot an unhealthy amount-OK BUT YOU DO THAT TOO HUNK,” everyone laughs at his defending, “I also have to say yoga does wonders for the body, I feel more alive every morning, but I will never, NEVER, wear tie dye.” The gang laughs harder at that, and Keith covers his face with his giggles falling out one after the other.

“Wow, thank god you don’t wear tie dye,” Pidge’s voice chimes in, dripping with sarcasm. They fall into another fit of giggles as Hunk adds on, “It’s okay buddy we’d still love you in tie dye too.” Lance lets out a groan, Hunk kind of ruining his point, though his kindness was in the right place.

Allura adds, “At least the bus can fit us all, and I think she is kind of aesthetic for photos,” Lance rolls his eyes chucking a marshmallow at her. “Hey! I’m trying to give you a _compliment!_ ” They laugh again.

Keith feels like he hasn’t laughed this hard in his whole, but that might be due to the alcohol he’s consumed in the past couple hours. How late is it already? He finds himself not giving a damn.

“Okay, okay, but can we talk about how Lance would totally be the type of guy,” Keith barely gets out between his laughter, “to drive around that rusty thing just to find a place in the middle of nowhere to do his yoga.” Pidge lets out her loud cackle in agreement.

Lance shoves him from the side, “Anyone would kill to see me do yoga, I’m a flexible goddess!” Everyone goes silent, staring at him with wide eyes, then breaks into their laughter yet again.

“Pfft Lance nobody wants to see your skinny ass stretching at 5 in the morning before the suns even up,” Allura says with giggles.

It seems bullying Lance was the peak of their drunk humor, and they began to settle down, soft giggles intertwined with more meaningful conversation. Keith learns Hunk and Lance are childhood friends. Allura has a youtube channel and claims to be an “influencer”, getting sponsorships from makeup and clothing businesses. Pidge once switched the latest Star Wars film in a movie theater to a random Pixar movie and had to spend the night in mall jail until Hunk had to pick her up.

The night progressed into sleepy conversation, until Hunk stated everyone should head home before they all pass out on the beach and the tide takes them out to sea by morning. Keith gets a big bear hug from Hunk, a kiss on the cheek from Allura, and when he gets to Lance he’s at a loss. They give each other unsure looks and Lance settles on a ruffle of Keith’s hair.

“Get home safe, kay?” Lance gives him a light shove and Keith and Pidge are off with a nod.

As soon as they get far enough away that the others can’t hear them anymore, Pidge turns to Keith with a determined look. “Are you okay?”

Keith furrows his eyebrows and looks down at her small frame. “Wha dooya mean?” He slurs slightly, given the vodka in his system, but comprehends her words.

“I mean with Lance, you guys seem to have something… going on,”

“I don’ know what ya mean? We were jus’ hangin’ out,” he smushes his hand in her hair and she swats him away.

“I saw the way you looked at him tonight, Keith. And the way he looked at you too,” She gives him a serious look, “I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting into this time. I just don’t want to see you hurt again, okay?”

Keith stops walking and stares at her, “Thanks Pidge, but I’m okay. I don’ feel like that with Lance.” They look at each other a bit more till she finally nods and they continue their walk home, discussing some of the funnier moments of the night.

The night air is cool against Keith’s flushed skin. He stares at his feet, stumbling slightly as he walks and listens to Pidge’s ramble over Hunk’s burgers. He doesn’t feel like that for Lance, right? Sure, he’s attractive, but a relationship is probably the last thing he needs right now. When did moving here become so complicated and so quickly?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm making a playlist for this story, would anyone be interested in a link for it or a list of the songs? Lemme know
> 
> I was planning on posting once a week at the least but um here we are. Also my house is SO HOT it's been really hot this weekend ugh I'm dying k bye
> 
> Also the tune lance played for Keith that was him showing his "feelings" will make another appearance, it's actually a song I wrote 😳😳
> 
> Also pidge is a #concernedfriend
> 
> Ok bye for real sorry I'm annoying 😘✌
> 
> Wait ok one more thing I just realized I didn't post the first chapter w italics and stuff so I'll fix that later ig


	3. Downpour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets caught in a storm with a special something and shows up at Lance's house for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little longer than the previous two, but the next chaoter will be a little shorter than normal so it evens out kinda.

Many people and legends say that rain is just the sky, or Gods, crying. Rain also comes in many forms, much like emotion does. It could be a soft sprinkle or a storm of hail, similar to a few tears or a complete breakdown. The real trouble comes down to predicting the forecast. No matter how accurate you try to be in analyzing weather, or a person, sometimes the unexpected happens and you can either run away or choose to stay and clean up the mess. So, what happens when the unexpected shows up on your doorstep and asking for help?

»

It seems today is another beautiful day. The sun is out shining, the trees are looking green, and all the flowers are blooming. Keith walks along the hiking trail, almost at the top of the hill, thankful for the great weather on his day off from work. It’s been a while since he’s been able to get some alone time with nature and just think by himself.

He stops at the rest area at the top of the hill and takes a look around in every direction. He pulls his small backpack off his back, setting it in front of his feet and pulling out a granola bar to snack on. The view is jaw-dropping and he takes a seat on a bench to soak up the beauty. He looks down to the left to see the beach meet with the ocean, hundreds of people sitting in the sand or playing volleyball or swimming or doing whatever it is you do at the beach in the summer.

He takes a look to his right, spotting some of the gift shops he walked through on his first day here a couple weeks ago. He smiles to himself when he spots Coran’s carwash and laughs about how the two first met, as well as how he met golden boy. _That was a weird day,_ he thinks. But he doesn’t feel a bitter tinge to the memory, it only warms his heart. Oddly.

Seems as though Lance has had that effect on him lately, and Pidge was catching onto it as well. _What if Lance is starting to notice?_ Keith shakes his head, disrupting that train of thought. He needs to be more subtle or this might grow into a bigger situation that he won’t be able to control. Plus, if anyone else finds out, it’d be harder to deny his feelings from growing into something deeper than simple attraction.

Just then, his thoughts are interrupted by light pitter-patting on the roof of the rest area he’s sitting in. Keith stands up suddenly, throwing his pack back on, and wraps an arm around a post to hang outside of the covered area. Sure enough, the previously sunny and blue skies were beginning to hide behind dark grey clouds quickly moving towards him. _Well, shit. The weather really was too good to be true._

Keith runs down the few steps of the area and begins to make his way down the path, but he hears a small whimper. He freezes in place, eyes wide and ears listening closely. The whimper comes again, and Keith isn’t sure if he should be scared for his life or if he’s scaring something himself. He listens again, and notices the sound is coming from right outside the rest building. He peeks around the edge of it, already soaking up the small bits of rain falling from the sky. The whimper comes yet again, from underneath one of the sets of stairs.

He takes a cautious peek underneath, only to find a small black ball of fluff curled against the wood paneling. “Hello?” Two bright yellow eyes glance over the creature’s shoulder and stare directly into Keith’s eyes. “Uhh,” Keith is frozen in place, unsure what he should be doing in this situation, “Hi, uh, little guy.” The creature turns around to edge its’ way out of the hiding spot.

Keith reaches his hand out slowly and the animal yanks its head back. “Sorry!” Keith says suddenly, shocking the animal again. His eyes widen and he reaches into his backpack to pull out a few pieces of jerky. He holds the peace offering out to the little fluffy dude, who slowly moves forward to sniff and then gently take the food in his mouth. Keith sends a small smile when the animal crawls out into the open and takes another piece of food. Keith is even allowed to gently pat the little guy on his fluffy head.

“See? I’m not all that bad, huh.” Keith takes in the animal, seemingly all black fluffiness, and notices a few scratches over its body. It seems to look like some type of dog, and the fur is slightly matted. The rain starts coming down harder and faster, so he grabs the jacket wrapped around his waist and slowly moves to pick the dog up and wrap it up like a burrito, which it surprisingly allows Keith to do with hardly any resistance – just a little flailing of legs. _You must be really scared to be alone if you’re accepting help so easily now,_ Keith thinks, _I can relate somewhat, I need help too._

He looks up to the grey sky, turns to the path leading down the hill, and makes a run for it. He’s careful to watch where he steps, aware that the dirt will soon turn to mud and he’s not about to face plant in some of that shit right now. He hugs the poor pup close to his chest. _Who the hell would leave a puppy all the way up here?_

By the time he’s at the bottom of the hill and on the beach, only having slipped and tripped a couple times, catching himself before completely falling each time, it’s outright pouring. His hair is soaked, and he constantly has to brush his bangs out of his face. He’s also shivering and soaked to the bone since the puppy is wrapped up in the only jacket he brought. He’s still many blocks away from his shared apartment and any stores that might still be open.

Keith looks down the length of the beach thinking, _this spot looks familiar._ Then it clicks, this is where he hung out with Pidge’s friends with a campfire and singing and drinks and all that. He runs a bit farther down, taking notice of the roaring waves to his left, which is _not_ helping to ease any anxieties he’s got right now. He finally sighs with mild relief at what he’s looking for; he johs up to the door of the house with the VW bus under a canopy. He takes in a big breath (for confidence). _Here goes… everything._

Keith knocks on the door with clothes dripping water onto the porch, teeth chattering, and a small pup held close to his chest. The door opens to show golden boy with expectant eyes, narrowing into confusion at seeing Keith giving a sheepish expression. “Uhh, hey.” Lance continues staring until Keith says, “I know this is random, but can I come in? We’re kinda almost drowning out here.”

Lance tilts his head to the side, obviously still confused, but moves aside to allow Keith to walk in. “Mullet, hey, sure, let me just get some towels—wait who’s _we?”_ Lance says as he began walking away only to do a double take. Keith only offers up the pup he’s still holding in his jacket. Lance’s eyes widen once again as he nods his head vigorously and rushes off to retrieve the towels.

“Stay on the welcome mat,” Lance calls out, “I don’t want you dripping all over my clean floors!” He returns after a minute or so, trading one of the two towels with Keith for the puppy. “Oh my _god!_ He is _adorable!”_ Keith gives a laugh and starts to dry his hair. “Where did he come from?” Lance continues to babble out questions as he unwraps the dog and pats him dry.

“I’d love to explain everything as much as I can, Lance” Keith says and starts to remove his shoes while Lance places the puppy on the floor, “but I’m kind of freezing right now, and my clothes are soaked.” He gestures to the outfit clinging to his skin and he swears he sees a small blush blooming on Lance’s cheeks as he looks him up and down until he quickly turns to run back to what Keith supposes is his bedroom. While he waits, the pup plops down next to his feet to take a nap, which makes Keith smile a bit.

“Sorry about that,” Lance returns with a stack of dry clothing, “these might be a little big for you, but they’re dry.” Keith smiles thankfully, with a small blush of his own, and Lance clears his throat. “The, uh, the bathroom is right there,” he says as he points to the sliding door on the right side of the hallway. Keith nods his thanks, and heads in the small room with the towel and clothes. He pats dry to put Lance’s lavender t-shirt and black sweats on. The shirt fits nicely, but the pants hang low on his hips due to his smaller frame.

He walks out, feeling a bit better, and finds Lance on a couch cooing at and petting the puppy. He smiles, enjoying this private moment just for a second, then plops down next to the two. Lance glances over at him and Keith’s oblivious ass misses the way Lance’s eyes linger on his hips as he looks his lips. “So, you gonna tell me what the hell you were doing out in a storm with a dog?” He moves forward, slightly jostling the puppy in his lap, to hand Keith a mug of hot cocoa and say, “I have warm beverages!”

Keith laughs a little and explains his little hiking adventure, finding the puppy, luring it out with meat, then racing down the hill and beach only to find that Lance’s house was his easiest option. “I was hoping to hell that you’d be home, otherwise I probably would’ve just sat on your porch all night.” The two laugh again.

“Well first of all, good job keeping the pup dry with no mud, he looks a bit rough, but I don’t think he needs a bath right away. Second, you’re an idiot, Mullet,” Keith frowns at the nickname and the latter statement, but before he gets a word in, Lance explains, “Didn’t you know it would storm today?” Keith shakes his head ready to answer again until Lance beats him again, “Yes it was sunny, but you should always be prepared for the unexpected here. The weather is kind of whack.” Lance smiles at him and softly pushes his shoulder.

“Well, it was a nice outing until, you know, I almost fell face first in mud,” he laughs at the thought of what could’ve been, “Hey, thanks for helping me out by the way.”

Lance looks at him for a long bit and says, “No problem. That’s what friends are for, right?” Keith shoots his head up with wide eyes, as if to say, _we’re friends?_ Lance gives him a reassuring smile. “So, what’re we gonna do about this little guy, by the way?”

“I’m not sure,” Keith reaches out to pat the dog between them and part the fur to show the cuts he noticed earlier, “I don’t think he has a home, or if he did, they just abandoned him up there all alone.”

Lance scratches the dog’s ears and exclaims, “I think we should keep him!” Keith’s eyebrows shoot up at _we… Man is he overthinking everything this stupid noob says._ “He’s so cute, how could you turn this baby face away?” Lance holds up the pup’s ears, flopping them back and forth making kissy noises.

“I don’t know if Pidge would allow me to keep a dog in our apartment,” Keith says with a laugh, “I wouldn’t mind it though. Seems we’ve both been through a lot together tonight.” He softly smiles at the little animal and looks out the window across the room at the beach.

“What would you name him?” Lance asks.

Keith looks back to Lance. “I think he would tell me when he’s ready.” Lance gives him a baffled look.

“Umm, okay… Well, what would you name him if he _didn’t_ tell you…?”

“Oh. Then,” Keith glances up at the sky and the stars “I think Kosmo fits him well. His fur is dark like the endless void of night, but he seems special like the stars.” The silence of the room startles Keith out of his little trance and he looks back at Lance, who is only staring at him with some type of determination. Keith suddenly realizes his mistake, “Shit, that probably sounded really cheesy and stupid. Sorry I just-“

Lance suddenly slaps a hand over Keith’s mouth and says, “No sorrys, shut up! Kosmo is a perfect name and I don’t need you to give me any justification to it. This dog is now named Kosmo and nobody can tell me otherwise.” Keith raises his eyebrows, but Lance seemingly forgets his hand is still covering his mouth. Keith smirks and Lance shrieks. “KEITH! DON’T LICK ME THAT’S DISGUSTING,” Keith laughs, and Lance yanks his hand away just to wipe it across Keith’s pants like it’s a disease.

“Lance,” Keith says to make the other boy look at him, “these are your clothes too.”

Lance looks to his Keith-infected hand and back to Keith/Lance’s sweatpants, only to give a “ugh! Gross! This is not the thank you I expected for helping you out,” he says as he crosses his arms with a pout and turns away from Keith.

Keith places a hand on Lance’s shoulder and leans in a bit closer, “Sorry, I just couldn’t resist,” he says and brings a hand to his own face to wipe away laughing tears, “Thank you Lance, really. You’re like the only person in this vicinity I knew, so you were honestly my only option, but you really helped me out.” Lance rolls his eyes and turns to face Keith, but he stops short.

With their faces only a few inches apart, a rosy blush rises to both boys’ cheeks. “I, uhhhh,” Lance mumbles, “It’s um, it’s no problem.” His eyes drop to Keith’s lips and Keith blushes harder. He notices Lance leaning forward a bit and panics, but his body won’t seem to work or move or _anything!_ Keith thinks, _shit, shit, shit! I want this, but I don’t. I don’t want to lose Lance as a friend I just got him. This can’t happen again please-_

Before Lance’s lips reach Keith’s, Kosmo is licking both of their faces, effectively ruining the mood with his excitement. He just wanted to be involved, and he thought it was a game. Lance seems more flustered than ever, as embarrassment seeps into the moment. Keith pulls back harshly, focusing his attention on Kosmo, silently thanking his new buddy for saving the day, even if he didn’t know what he was doing.

Lance stands with both their mugs and brings them to the kitchen. He glances at the oven clock to see it says 1:00am. He stands in the kitchen-living room doorway and says, “So, since the storm doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon, you’re welcome to crash on the couch right here,” he stands a bit longer in thought then adds, “Night, Keith.”

“Thanks, I’ll be here I guess.” Keith gives a small smile and Lance walks past him lying on the couch to go to his room, but Keith grabs his wrist gently. “Good night, Lance.” Lance gulps, nods, and turns to walk down the hallway.

Keith turns to Kosmo, who looks at him knowingly, even though he’s a dog and _what does a dog know._ Kosmo cuddles up between the couch cushions and Keith’s stretched out legs, so Keith takes that as a sign to get some rest as well and snuggles under the blanket Lance let him borrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided I'll probably post a chapter every Friday. 
> 
> Volkswagen buses and beetles keep appearing in my dreams and I'm kind of concerned. Also jsut watched the episode of supernatural where theres a vw bus and I swear they're everyone in my life now sjdidififi.
> 
> P.s. does anyone play yhe beta phase of fer.al by wildworks yet??


	4. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith wakes up at Lance's house after a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so didn't post this Friday even though it was done cuz I'm lazy and forgetful lol. Enjoy.

Water is often used to cleanse, refresh, start anew. However, it can often leave behind a different type of mess than before. The ocean at high tide brings in random objects from all over the world, casting them astray on the beach for onlookers to pick up. Though this is yet another thing that needs cleaning up in the world, sometimes you can find something great among the disaster.

»

When Keith wakes up, his eyes open to bright sunlight and the smell of… eggs? Eggs. Eggs and bacon? He sits up on the couch and looks around, trying to remember where he was… _Oh yeah, I spent the night at Lance’s house._

...

_FUCK, I SPENT THE NIGHT AT LANCE'S HOUSE._

_..._

He then remembers the reason he ended up here and looks around for a certain ball of fluff. When he sees no black blob and hears humming coming from the kitchen, he decides to venture out of his makeshift bed.

Lance is standing at the oven, a red and white apron tied around his neck and waist, humming as he cooks scrambled eggs in a pan. The tune sounds familiar, but Keith can’t quite put his finger on what it is, so he shrugs it off. Keith’s eyes travel down a bit at Lance’s ass – _ahem –_ Lance’s ankles where Kosmo is sitting with big puppy dog eyes, begging for some of the bacon on the plates on the countertop. Lance turns off the burner, placing the eggs equally on two plates, and suddenly turns around with the two breakfasts in hand. He freezes, his humming stopping when he sees Keith, and his eyes widen a bit.

“Hey,” Keith manages to get out.

“Morning,” Lance says as his eyes glance at Keith’s mess of hair sticking up all over the place, “You hungry? I made breakfast.” He emphasizes his point by raising the two plates in his hands. Keith nods and they take their places across from each other at the kitchen table. Lance pulls off the apron and hangs it on the side of his chair.

Keith digs into his food right away, not having eaten since his granola bar on his hike yesterday. Lance, however, seems in a chatty mood for the early morning, quite the opposite of a nocturnal Keith. _This is weird,_ Keith thinks. He glances back up at Lance, who energetically is flinging his hands all over the place as he accounts a story about surfing last summer. _I wouldn’t mind waking up to this every day, it’s at least better than Pidge burning her toast every goddamn morning and waking me up to get on a chair and disable the fire alarm._

Keith finds himself smiling softly to himself as Lance’s eyes shine and he continues his rant. _I wonder if he makes breakfast for all his night-over guests. And if he talks this much every time too. And if before he gets out of bed he rolls over and hugs Keith and gives him a kiss on his forehead, holding him close and telling him “I’ll never let you go, Keith. Keith. Keith.”_

“Keith?” Lance waves a hand in front of his face and starts snapping his fingers. “Earth to Keith? Are you listening to me, Keith?”

Keith shakes his head thinking, _shit I need to get a hold of myself._ “Sorry, I uh, spaced out I guess. What were you saying?”

Lance flicks his forehead, in which Keith then complains about, and says, “I was asking you what we should do about Kosmo. You think he’s got an owner out there looking for him?”

“Well, like I said last night, I don’t think he’s got one anymore. I don’t think he could’ve gotten all the way up there on his own,” Keith looks down at the whimper by his feet and pats the pup’s head.

Lance nods in agreement but says, “Good point. We could probably get Pidge to look into it as well, she’s good at tracking down people’s pasts, or er- dog’s pasts?” The two laugh a bit as Kosmo gives them confused looks with those golden yellow eyes. What seems to be an uncomfortable silence – uncomfortable for Keith, at least – stretches on for a couple minutes, so he resorts to the first thought in his mind to pick up the chatter.

“Hey, so, do you live here all alone then?” Keith not-so-subtly-asks-if-Lance-is-single. Keith grimaces to himself at the wording of the question. _God I’m stupid what the fu-_

“Nah, Hunk and I are roommates,” Lance waves it off as if Keith didn’t just make a fool of himself, “He’s at a cooking convention this weekend though, so I got the place to myself for a bit.” Keith nods at that and Lance smirks a bit as he says, “Why? Ya want a bit of Lancey Lance?” He lifts his arms up, gesturing at himself with a cocky grin.

Keith rolls his eyes, but Lance doesn’t miss the small blush that blooms on his cheeks. “Yeah right, more like I was wondering if I’ve been such a bother staying.” Lance pouts a bit, but doesn’t get much time to think it over as Keith says, “You’ve known Hunk for a long time, right?”

Lance nods and continues to another story, “We go way back. We’ve known each other since we were young, then we attended this academy together. Next thing we know, we’re roommates in college, graduating, and roommates again, but now with full-time jobs too. He’s always been my best buddy, always there for me, ya know?”

Keith nods, although he doesn’t know what Lance means. He’s never really had that type of relationship with anyone before. Pidge would be the closest one to that kind of person in his life, or maybe Shiro, but he’d basically been on his own till the end of college. “Thanks for breakfast by the way, it was surprisingly good. No offense, but I thought you’d be a shitty cook,” Keith says and laughs when Lance makes an offended face.

“You think Hunk would let me get away with wasting ingredients?” Keith laughs yet again and thinks _why am I always laughing around this guy??_ “He started teaching me basic recipes once he got into cooking in high school. Even if he didn’t though, I’d probably be amazing because I excel in _everything_ I do.” He holds his chin up high with a bright smile.

Keith snorts and says, “You certainly don’t excel in picking vehicles…” Lance makes a sound of protest then stands and reaches across the table to smack Keith upside the head, but Keith catches his wrist. Lance’s eyes widen a little as Keith flips Lance, so his back is against the table, narrowly missing their empty plates. Keith’s hand holding Lance’s wrist comes across golden boy’s chest to hold him down as his other hand holds Lance’s other wrist down. Both heavily breathe, slightly in shock at Keith’s actions. Keith notices two golden cheeks turning red and feels his own face growing hot. Now its Keith’s turn to widen his eyes and he suddenly lets go of Lance completely. “I, uhh, I’m so sorry, it’s kind of a reflex, I just-“

Lance lifts himself off the table and brushes his clothes off before exclaiming, “Where the hell did you learn that?!” Keith looks to the boy with an exasperated expression as Lance continues, “That was fuckin’ cool as hell!”

Keith is speechless. Normally his reflexes set off anger in whoever is on the receiving end, but Lance thinks he’s… _cool_? “My dad… My dad was in the army, so he taught me self-defense,” Keith starts, still startled by Lance’s reaction, “My buddy Shiro also taught me most of what he knows.”

“Keith, you have _got_ to teach me those moves. Wouldn’t it be so badass to just whip em out on unsuspecting criminals trying to jump you and then _wha-pam!”_ Lance makes a karate chop gesture with his hand and says, “Please, please, pleeeaaaseee teach me!” He gives Keith a hopeful smile and big eyes similar to the ones Kosmo gave Lance earlier to beg for bacon.

“Well, I don’t know. I’ve never taught anyone before…” Keith says shyly and thinks, _I don’t think I’d last two minutes sparring with Lance and knowing we’d be tackling and pinning each other to the floor._

“Oh, come on, Keith,” Lance says as he moves around the dining table to place both hands on his shoulders, effectively shutting Keith’s brain down. “It’ll be fun!” Keith still looks very unsure of himself, so Lance comes in with, “Unless you’re scared you’ll lose to me?”

Keith scoffs, taking the obvious bait, “As if! I literally just pinned you to the table a minute ago,” Keith’s words fell out before he could think, and he realizes without context the wording of that statement is a little funky.

Lance raises his eyebrows, “Is that a yes I’m hearing?” He nudges Keith a few times with a smile. Keith rolls his eyes and nods reluctantly. _Why am I agreeing to this???_ “YES!!!” Lance pulls Keith into a tight bear hug which he barely reciprocates, too stunned to realize what is going on, his small hands kind of flapping around aimlessly.

Then, Keith is off the floor with a yelp as Lance spins him around like a little princess. This, however, causes Keith to cling to Lance like a koala, because he doesn’t quite trust Lance not to drop him. He finally relaxes though and smiles to himself while he knows Lance is grinning brightly, as always.

“Am I interrupting something?” Keith snaps his head up to the familiar gremlin voice, but before he gets a good look he’s spun around and dropped to the floor so Lance can see who it is. When his feet touch ground, he feels Lance’s hands on his shoulders, in a protective stance. Ironic, considering Keith had just agreed to be the one teaching Lance. Keith turns around to see Pidge with her arms crossed, standing in the kitchen doorway, looking not-too-happy finding Keith here. Keith looks up at Lance, whose smile has dropped slightly, but a blush has appeared across his cheeks, not unsimilar to how Keith’s face must look, and then he glances down at his clothes – or rather _Lance’s_ clothes – and grimaces to himself at how the situation must look. “Keith, can I talk to you? Alone?” He nods and follows Pidge to Lance’s porch outside. As soon as the front door closes she starts swatting at him and says, “What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing. Here!”

“Ouch, Pidge stop!”

“And why didn’t you call or text, I was worried out of my mind you stupid bitch!” Pidge continues her insults and complaints.

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, there was so much going on that I- I forgot, I guess,” Keith grabs her wrists to stop her attacks, “It’s probably dead anyway. I’m sorry, okay?”

“What was _going on_ ,” Pidge says, using her fingers to make quote marks in the air as she sends him a glare, “I thought you said nothing was _going on_ with Lance.”

Keith moves his hands from her wrists up to the sides of her upper arms and looks her in the eyes to say, “Look, last night there was a storm and I found this dog and I was super far from the apartment and already freezing cold so I remembered Lance lived on the beach and I found his house and he was home and gave me dry clothes and hot cocoa and it was late so I spent the night then we had breakfast nothing fishy happened!”

Keith is out of breath and Pidge is taking in information so they both kind of just stare at each other for a minute. Finally, Pidge says, “Nothing fishy?” Keith shakes his head vigorously and she lets out a big sigh to say, “Okay… But why were you hugging like Vikings?” She then sends him a small smirk.

Keith laughs a little and says, “Long story short, Lance wants me to teach him how to fight – or well, defend himself.” Pidge narrows her eyes and suddenly holds up her finger with a questioning look, to which Keith beats her to the punch. “Dog? Yeah, we named him Kosmo. We need your help with that by the way, I found him at the top of the hill off the beach and I don’t think he has an owner, but we need you to confirm.”

Pidge nods slowly, and Keith tilts his head towards the door. She nods again and they make their way back to Lance, who looks slightly worried. Kosmo whines and runs up to Keith, sensing his frazzled state and jumping up on his knees to yip around at him. “He seems to have grown attached to you rather quickly,” Pidge notes and Lance nods as he follows after Kosmo to give him loving pats and rubs. “Well, let’s get to work then, shall we?”


	5. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance head to the gym.

A river, although a steady stream of water, can get out of hand within weeks. Much like Keith’s feelings for Lance. This steadiness that starts out manageable and refreshing can quickly turn into a flooding mess and destroy everything in its way only to form a new path. Maybe this new path is more beautiful than before or maybe it’s not, but it is the fact that it’s new and a change that makes it scary.

»

After a couple weeks of searching and putting up posters, nobody claimed Cosmo. Whether this was sad or good news, Keith wasn’t sure. Yes, he got a new buddy to hang out with, and Lance was absolutely obsessed with him (Cosmo, not Keith, duh), but it also pulled at Keith’s heart that the previous owner would just leave the young pup out to rot in a storm. Nonetheless, Cosmo was the new member of their makeshift friend-family. Pidge screeched every time she found a… “surprise” left by Cosmo around the apartment, but Keith could tell she liked having the little guy around if the loving pats she gave him when she thought Keith wasn’t looking were anything to go by. He also wasn’t such a little guy anymore, he was quickly growing to an almost unmanageable size, and his energy only seemed to increase along with it.

Keith didn’t have much experience with dogs, so Lance took this as an opportunity to relive his childhood that he spent with their family pets and teach Keith all about them. This, of course, brought along a lot more time to spend with each other as they trained Cosmo and as Keith trained Lance. At the latter times, Cosmo was then left to Pidge or Hunk or Allura’s care, whoever was willing and available. Once Coran met the sweetheart, he also insisted Keith bring him around for some of his shifts as well, and he certainly brought up the mood around the place for everyone.

Currently, Keith walked down the street to Lance and Hunk’s house with Cosmo on a leash. It was taking him an extra ten minutes to reach his destination though, because every few houses other people would stop him to talk about and pet Cosmo. Keith wasn’t complaining, he understood Cosmo was an eye-catcher with his giant mass of fluffy dark fur, big bear paws, and tall pointy ears, but Keith wasn’t what you could call social.

Alas, he made it to the porch with the hippie VW Bus in the driveway and knocked on the front door. Hunk swung the door open, his eyes lighting up at Cosmo as he reaches down rub his face and coo at him. The edge of Keith’s lips quirk up into a small smile and Hunk suddenly remembers Cosmo didn’t travel here all on his own. He stands up and pats his shoulder, “Hey, Keith! You guys can come on in. Lance isn’t quite ready yet.”

Keith follows Cosmo, who leaps into the entry room onto the couch as soon as his leash is unclipped, and stands on the mat next to the door so he doesn’t have to take his shoes off. Hunk speaks up as he rubs Cosmo’s belly, “He’s getting to be such a big boy!” Cosmo wriggles around and barks, “Such a _good_ boy too! Aren’t you Cosmo? Such a good boy!”

Keith smiles, “Yeah, he’s been catching the attention of everyone I see too, I don’t know how anyone could’ve given him up.” His smile turns sad as he watches Cosmo. Hunk gives him an understanding look.

“Well, he’s got a big family now! Two papas, an aunt, an uncle, and sister!” Cosmo hops up and jumps around in the excitement of Hunk’s voice.

Keith laughs, but then registers what Hunk said, “Wait _two_ papas-?”

Suddenly thumping is heard from down the hall and Lance slides in front of Keith on his socks. “Hey, Keith! Sorry, I was watering my plants.” Keith rolls his eyes and steps out onto the porch as Lance slips his shoes on and grabs a set of keys. “Thanks for dog-sitting for us, Hunk! Be back in a couple hours.”

Lance shuts the door and pulls Keith along to the bus, both of their gym bags in hand. They hop in and make their way to the training rooms at the gym. “You’re overly energetic today,” Keith notes. Lance gives him a look and leaps into today’s story.

“Well I was ready, I really was, but then I remembered I need an extra pair of socks, but I couldn’t find any that matched, and if they didn’t match, well that’s just not okay. Anyway, then I realized I hadn’t watered my plants in a couple days when I saw that my succulent was turning brown and I thought ‘that can’t be good’ so I had to run all around the house, but I was going too fast and fell and spilled water everywhere, including all over my clothes-“

“Pfft you fell on your face?” Keith covers his mouth with his hand and Lance splutters out that “I did not say my face, Mullet! You lookin’ for a fight?” To which Keith replies with a simple eyebrow raise and Lance realizes that that’s exactly why they’re headed to the gym.

“Well, anyway, I was only a couple minutes late, not that you’re Mr. On Time either.”

Keith scoffs, “When have I _ever_ been late to something! If anything, you’re probably always late because of this rusty old thing,” he says as he pats the dashboard.

Lance gasps dramatically, “She is _not rusty!_ You’re the one good with mechanics, so I _know_ that _you know_ there is _no rust!”_ Keith just laughs as Lance finally pulls into the gym parking lot. They get out with their bags, check in at the counter with their accounts, and head to the training rooms since they’re both already dressed to work out.

The majority of the session is spent improving Lance’s basic moves and his strength in general. They spar a couple times, but Keith wins every time. Keith also sets Lance up with a punching bag to practice offensive moves, but practices defense with him. Especially moves that require Keith attack Lance.

“Okay, now I’m going to teach you how to use your opponent’s strength against them. Especially since you’re a stick and have no muscle,” Keith smiles as Lance scoffs. “First of all, you need your stance to be below the other person, or at least get them off balance, since I realize you being tall would make it difficult to be smaller.” Lance tries to get into position, but his form looks awful. “Here, like this.”

Keith walks the couple feet separating them and stands behind Lance. He gently pushes Lance’s bent knees apart to widen his stance. He then presses his chest against Lance’s back so he can wrap his arms around his torso to grab the wrists of Lance’s closed fists and lower them. Keith takes a deep breath and a step back, then walks back in front of Lance, who has a slight blush. “Okay, thanks,” Keith gives a small smile which doesn’t last long as Lance announces, “Hey, Keith, is this how it feels to be short like you?”

Lance snickers as Keith launches at him, “Shut up!” Keith swings at Lance who is crumpled into himself, “I’m not short, I’m just not as tall as you, you twig!”

“Okay, okay! Stop punching me already, I was joking! You’re so easy to tease,” Lance continues with his giggles and Keith rolls his eyes with a grumpy frown plastered to his face. “Can you continue with the lesson?” Lance asks with a small voice and a knowing grin.

“Get back in your stance,” Keith immediately jumps back in a Lance gets situated again, “So if you can keep your opponent off balance and reacting to what _you_ do, you will have them just where you want them. Imagine it like when you kick a ball that’s rolling towards you. The ball will be kicked with more power compared to if you kicked it while it was sitting because you used its momentum.”

Lance nods in understanding, “Would it work the same way if you were running at me? Like if I punched you while you were running towards me rather than standing there.” Now it’s Keith’s turn to nod.

“In theory, it should work the same way. Want to try it out?”

“Punch you???” Lance’s eyes go wide.

“Pfft, if you can touch me, McClain.” Keith gives a confident smirk and sets himself up a few yards away. “Ready?” He calls, and Lance gets focused and nods firmly.

Keith runs at Lance, whose eyes go a little big wide in fear, but he stands his ground. He moves to punch Keith’s gut, who notices immediately so he spins right around his fist and grabs Lance’s wrist to pull his arm around his back and push him onto his knees. “Too easy,” Keith moves closer to Lance’s ear whisper slowly. Keith’s eyebrows raise as Lance shivers. He figures it must be because he’s scared of Keith, so he releases his grip and sets up a few yards away again.

“Bring it on, I can get you this time.” Lance takes a deep breath in and sets his gaze on Keith.

“Okay, then.” Keith makes his run up to Lance again and sees him ready his fist for a punch to the gut again. _This guy is not subtle, at all,_ Keith thinks and goes in to grab his wrist again. Suddenly Lance switches fists and swings his left into Keith’s stomach. _Sneaky bastard,_ Keith thinks and lets out a breathless, “Oof!” and barely has time to register that Lance has wrapped an arm around his waist to tackle him to the floor.

“Got ya, Mullet.” Lance gives a victorious grin as he lays partly on top of Keith.

“Hey, Lance?”

“Hm?”

“It’s not over till I say it is.”

“Huh?”

_I am not letting you beat me,_ Keith thinks and wraps a leg around Lance’s legs to flip them over. He grabs onto both of Lance’s wrists and holds them against the floor next to the sides of his face. Lance’s blue eyes look into Keith’s, his mouth slightly parted in surprise, probably. “Gotcha,” Keith says with a smirk as they both breath heavily.

“Uhh…” is all Lance manages to get out. His cheeks then bloom with a bright blush and Keith realizes the compromising position they’re in. He’s straddling Lance’s waist and his face is far too close to perfectly smooth and tanned skin.

Keith yeets himself away.

“I’m sorry! I just got a little too competitive and I- uh-,” Keith stutters out his response as Lance continues to lie on the floor like a corpse. As Keith scrambles about, he knocks over their water bottles and tries to sit on the bench but misses and lands flat on his ass.

Lance only slowly stands up, movements robotic and face like a tomato, and takes his seat next to Keith on the floor. Keith watches him with concern and curiosity and hands him his water. Suddenly Lance flips his head to face Keith, “I really tricked you back there though, huh!” He smiles brightly and their dynamic returns to normal.

Keith shoves Lance’s shoulder and looks at the floor, “Pfft, as if! I let you get a hit in so you didn’t lose confidence,” Keith lies awfully, which makes Lance’s smile grow that much more.

“Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?”

Keith looks back to Lance, “Nothing. Why? I thought we were training the day after?”

Lance quickly shakes his head, “No, no, we are. I was just wondering if,” He bites the inside of his cheek as his confidence falters. Keith gestures for him to go on. “Would you wanna hang out? I could show you the best places around here.”

Lance finally chances a glance at Keith, who looks shell-shocked. _Shit, I totally scared him off,_ Lance thinks, _ABORT ABORT_. “I… Uhm,” Keith doesn’t know what to say. _Is Lance asking him out on a date? Or is this just what real friends do?_ He doesn’t know what to think either.

“Well, it’s just you’ve been training with me for free, and I just figured, I could do something in return,” Lance shrugs and there’s a certain rosiness to his cheeks, “It’s fine, you can say no. I just- there’s like a beach festival tomorrow, and I thought we could go and I could show you all the good things Cuba has to offer and like there’s totally no pressure I just-” Keith slaps his hand over Lance’s mouth with an expression Lance can’t quite read.

“Uhh… I’d love that, you just caught me off guard.”

Keith takes his hand away as Lance’s eyes light up and his smile glows again. “Really? Awesome! And you? Off guard?? Pfft yeah right,” Keith gives a hesitant smile as Lance rambles on, “Okay, so I can pick you up in the morning and we can even take Cosmo too of course, and don’t forget a swimsuit and blah blah blah blah,” is all Keith hears as he gets lost in everything that is Lance.

He pushes the thought of ‘ _What does that make us?_ ’ away for the time being and decides to enjoy the moment for once rather than worrying about things he can’t answer right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realised kosmo is spelled Cosmo and I changed all of those mistakes in my complete document but I'm too lazy to update the chapters I've posted so sorry if that annoys u I'm stupid lmao


	6. Summer Lovin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance shows Keith around town on their not-date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this chapter is suuuper long compared to the others, like double in word count, but I wasn't bout to split it up...

Waterfalls. Thousands of feet for water to rush down in a loud roar. Anything caught in it gets pulled down to a big jumble of water. Due to weight and gravity, the water simply falls in what can be a death trap. Keith feels like he’s caught in this death trap, falling for a certain smiley golden boy. The weight of his feelings pulls him down to earth, roots him there, then pulls him under the water, waves of emotion washing over him. The loud noise, the buzzing and hissing of the water, drowning out the rest of the world until he can only focus on one thing: blue. Blue eyes.

»

Early in the morning, Lance will stop by to pick up Keith in his classic rust bucket of a bus. Keith is a jumble of nerves, especially after going through the same lectures from both Pidge and Shiro, his best friend and previous roommate he met in his later college years. Thankfully, Adam, Shiro’s fiancé, doesn’t care what the hell Keith does and thinks he doesn’t need to lecture him like a parent. He still had to go through it with his other two pesky friends.

“You worry too much,” he had told them, though he was worried himself. He still had no idea where he stood with Lance, but it seemed this was a platonic outing, not a romantic one. Still, Pidge nagged him about watching himself get feelings again when he was so emotionally vulnerable. _Too late for that,_ Keith thinks to himself as he shovels extra clothes and sunscreen into his backpack. He glances at the clock on his nightstand which blinks at him that Lance will arrive in about five minutes.

 _ShitshitshitshitshitshitSHIT._ Keith mutters under his breath and pulls a pair of red swim trunks on as well as a black tank top. He hears the doorbell ring and he hears Pidge fall off the couch only to open the door and he hears a loud Lance and he hears Cosmo’s claws scratching on the wood floor as he no doubt leaps into Lance’s arms. Keith yanks his hat and pack on and trips over himself to get to the entry way where Cosmo is wagging his tail with his harness and leash on and Pidge is pestering Lance like she’s Keith’s mother.

“Keep him away from those weird druggies, and don’t let him swim too far out he’s a shit swimmer!” Lance only grins in turn and nods enthusiastically as he takes the leash from Pidge. Keith could die of embarrassment. _Seriously, Pidge? You have known Lance the past two years, chill!_

Lance barely catches Keith’s eye before he’s being dragged out the front door along with Cosmo. “Stay out of trouble, Keith! It’s the last thing you need,” he hears her call out just as he slams the door.

It’s quiet, _too_ quiet, as the three walk down the sets of stairs and into the bus so Keith looks at Lance, who is still grinning like an idiot. “What,” he says as more of a statement than a question.

Lance quirks a small smirk, “What kind of trouble is she talking about, Mullet? You get in with the wrong people a lot before we met?” Keith’s face falls a bit at that, which Lance notices, so he quickly changes the subject. “Pidge is more on edge than usual. You tell her this a date or something?” Lance gives a laugh too to give the sense he’s joking, but it feels _real_ for Keith.

 _Stop playing with my damn emotions, you airhead!_ Keith scoffs, “More like she thinks you’re stupid enough to get us caught in some hippie gang drama shit.” Lance rolls his eyes and they reach the bus. He slides open the back where Cosmo leaps in, but stops by Keith’s door. He then opens it for him with a little bow, and Keith gives him a questioning glance. “What’s your game, McClain?”

Lance shuts the door after Keith is settled in his seat and he’s back in his own a second later. “What’s yours?” They look at each other a few more seconds, which feels much longer, when Lance turns the radio on instead. They’re set off for the beach and are singing along to what Keith believes to be ‘stupid mainstream garbage’ when Keith’s phone rings so Lance turns the volume down.

Keith scrunches his face up at the contact that appears on the screen. Last night he had told Pidge about his and Lance’s outing planned for the next day and shortly after, he had called Shiro to talk about it too. His emotions were a mess and he needed a trusted opinion. Plus, Adam’s opinion could be of use since he would be very neutral about the situation. Now, however, his reaching out was coming to bite him in the butt. “Shiro?” Keith answers and Lance gives a short, confused glance to his right as Keith puts the phone to his ear, “Hello?”

“Keith! Did you put sunscreen on?” Shiro’s voice booms out of the phone speaker and Keith yanks his head away and drops his phone on the ground when he realizes with horror that he’s put him on speaker. As he scrambles and splutters to pick it up and change it, Lance slams the breaks and the phone goes sliding under his seat, just out of his reach. “Fuck!” He whisper-yells to himself.

Lance suddenly speaks up, “He hasn’t yet, actually! I can tell, he still smells like his shampoo,” Keith slams his palms to his face to cover his heated cheeks and huffs out an exasperated breath. He tries to reach under the seat, but the space is too small, and his arm is too muscly— _fuck me for being in shape!_

Shiro’s muffled voice comes out from underneath Keith-shit okay ew that sounds fuckin weird- “Is that the Lance you were telling me about Keith?” Lance replies with a loud ‘yes, that’s me!’ and Shiro continues his father-like conversation, “Make sure Keith gets his sunscreen, especially his back, his pale skin burns so easy!”

_Fuck you, Shiro!_

Lance laughs at Keith’s embarrassment, but before he gets his response in, Keith blurts, “Shut up, Shiro! Shouldn’t you be planning your wedding with your fiancé?” Shiro chuckles heartily at Keith’s outburst regarding the love of his life, but shrugs it off like a pro.

“Right, well, I’ll call you later then,” Shiro says as Lance makes a sharp turn and the phone shoots out right between Keith’s feet. He snatches it up to cut Shiro off and end the call just as he says, “Have fun and make sure to tell me all about your da-”

“He was gonna say day, just so you know,” Keith grumbles and crosses his arms with a pout.

“I like him,” Lance giggles next to Keith, who is still full-blown blushing.

Cosmo perks up his head and ears from the backseat, oblivious to Keith’s demise.

»

An entire day spent alone with Keith (and Cosmo, he supposes) had finally come around and Lance couldn’t be more overjoyed. He had finally got the guts to ask him out – though he chickened and pulled the friend card – and he was going to make this day unforgettable. He had a short, but exciting, list of activities planned for his day with Keith, starting at the beach at its coldest and least crowded time.

»

The three parked at the beach lot, grabbed their gear, and set out for the water. The sun hadn’t risen quite yet, so sunscreen was forgone for now, but they could still see because of the lights from businesses along the beach. Lance helped Keith onto his paddleboard, then helped Cosmo onto it as well. Once they were situated, he balanced their bags of towels and food on his paddleboard and climbed on.

“Just follow me,” Lance said as he maneuvered his board and paddled towards his favorite spot just off the beach. They were quiet for a bit as the sun started rising, Cosmo content with the silence and Keith unnerved by it.

“So, where exactly are we going?”

Lance glanced back with a smile, “You’ll have to wait till we get there, it’s close don’t worry.” He turned back around, leaving Keith to ponder what to expect.

Lance led them around a corner of tall grass and other plants growing in the water and a big chunk of land suddenly appeared. Keith gasped a little at the sight and followed Lance’s example of pulling up to the island’s little beach. He barely managed to step off the paddleboard when Cosmo leaped onto the sand, flipping the board over. Lance laughed at the dog’s enthusiasm and grabbed their stuff to start setting up.

“Lance, this is beautiful,” Keith looked around in awe. The beach was small, with soft sand leading up to dirt and grass that then grew into groups of trees and darkness. Cosmo leaped around and rolled in the sand and Keith turned back around to face Lance. “What- How did you know about this place?”

Lance smiled knowingly as he laid out a blanket on the sand and set down a basket of food. “When you live here all your life, summer gets kind of boring and you’ll end up exploring,” he said with a shrug, but Keith only looked at him with wide eyes. “My siblings also showed me it one time when I was younger,” Lance finally admitted, making Keith smile a little.

Lance sat down on the blanket and patted the open space next to Keith. The other boy took it and sat criss-cross, both of them facing the water. It was still fairly dark, but it seemed they arrived right in time as the sun began peeking over the horizon. Lance nudged Keith’s arm and handed him a sandwich that he had grabbed out of the basket.

“Lance, I don’t know what to say. This sight is just- it’s amazing!” He unwrapped the sandwich and took a big bite. Then with chubby cheeks full of food he smiled tightly at Lance who only laughed. “So, what else you got planned for the day?”

Lance began eating his own food too, “Well, you already know we’re checking out the festival when it starts. By the way, it’s supposed to be hot all damn day long so you should probably follow your friend Shiro’s advice and lay on the sunscreen.”

Keith groaned and rolled his eyes, “I hate sunscreen! It’s sticky and smells bad and just makes me uncomfortable.”

“Well, maybe I could you more comfortable by helping you put it on,” Lance suggested so casually Keith thought he imagined it. Before he had a chance to respond, “You probably need help getting your back anyway.” Lance flipped his face around towards Keith and grinned.

“I- uhh,” Keith stuttered out, “I guess, sure.”

_What the hell am I saying??_

The two went back to finishing their breakfast sandwiches and watching the sun wash the water and sand in oranges and yellows. Cosmo at some point got tired of running around without purpose and settled in next to Lance – Keith likes to tell himself it was because he has the basket of food, not because Lance is Cosmo’s favorite.

Once the sun was fully in the sky, the two packed up their little picnic, and Keith almost got away without the icky sunscreen. He was about to step onto his paddleboard when Lance stopped him.

“Whoa, where you going?” Keith grimaced and shut his eyes as he spun around. He peeked an eye open to see Lance waving around a bottle of that damn sun lotion. Keith let out a defeated sigh and pulled his shirt off in one swift movement. He held out his hand for some, Lance obliged, and he applied it over his legs, arms, face, chest, and neck. However, like Lance assumed, he couldn’t reach his back well.

“Relax, let me help,” Keith gave Lance a curious glance and turned his back towards him. He felt gentle hands work their way over his upper back muscles first, the smooth sunscreen gliding over smooth skin. Keith felt Lance’s fingers work the protectant into his skin, running along his spine and down his back.

“Eep!” Keith made a very unmanly sound as Lance’s fingers ghosted over the sides of his stomach. Keith clenched his jaw and peeked over his shoulder at the culprit of the crime and he only saw Lance struggling to keep in a laugh. The struggle was pointless, as the laugh overtook his face anyway.

“Keith, pfft-,” Lance spoke between giggles, “Keith, are you _ticklish?”_

Keith inhaled deeply through his nose and grumbled out, “Shut up, would you just finish already?”

Lance’s giggles didn’t stop for a couple minutes and his fingers appeared at the sides of Keith’s stomach a couple more times as he finished applying the sunscreen to his back. Eventually, though it felt like an hour had gone been, the two plus Cosmo set off for the large beach again. Keith sent many last glances over his shoulder to watch the island get smaller the farther they went away from it.

“Hey, we can always come back again,” Lance reassured Keith, who blushed a little realizing he was not being subtle in showing his interest for the place. “You do seem like the exploring type.” Keith rolled his eyes and Lance smiled at him. Cosmo wagged his tail in his oblivion.

They arrived back at the other beach and Keith realized Lance’s reasoning for leaving so early. The place was packed already, and the sun had barely risen an hour ago. People were setting up their places on the sand with towels and umbrellas and floaties. Tents were starting to go up as well, all the little businesses putting different items and souvenirs to buy for the tourists. Food booths were also appearing, which excited Keith because he wanted to try all the unique foods offered here.

They grabbed their boards and locked their stuff back up in the bus to check out shops along the boardwalk and go down streets Keith had never been to before. Keith honestly was having a great time just being in Lance’s company and learning more about this city he’d been living in for a little over a month. They even swung by the car wash to say their “hello” to Coran.

One shop with different types of jewelry made of beads caught Keith’s eye specifically and Lance of course noticed and dragged him over to try them out. Keith especially liked the bracelets and the two tried them on. “This one would look perfect on you Keith,” Lance held out a bracelet with half the beads a brown color and the other half a soft purple. Keith stared at it with a smile and held out his hand, to which Lance slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. He looked up into Keith’s eyes with a blush dusting his cheeks, “It brings out your eyes, Mullet.”

Keith’s face bloomed red and he turned away from the eye contact to scoff at the nickname. Lance only smiled and turned to the clerk to pay for the bracelet. “Wait! I can’t let you buy this for me, you’ve already done so much today,” Keith reached out to tug on the sleeve of Lance’s shirt. Lance only shrugged him off and paid the clerk.

They continued walking through the booths, Lance pointing out different traditions he had with his family as a young boy and how they would spend the festival together. Eventually Cosmo was visibly thirsty and tired from walking, so they found an outdoor table at a restaurant. They got Cosmo a bowl of water and ordered lunch while they continued their chatter under the cool shade of the table umbrella.

“You’ve lived here your entire life, right?” Keith asked, and Lance nodded. “Do you have any, like, horror stories?” Lance scrunched his face in confusion and Keith corrected himself, “I mean anything weird that’s happened here while you grew up.”

“I mean, I guess I have lots of weird experiences with the ocean,” Lance looked up in thought and said, “I used to work as a lifeguard down at the beach for a summer job as a teen so a lot of weird shit went down there.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “You were a _lifeguard??_ ” He burst into giggles, “You were a basic man hoe!”

Lance’s jaw dropped, “Was not! What’s wrong with saving people!”

Keith’s laughter died down and he didn’t really know how to explain so he just said, “Nothing, nothing. Tell me more about these lifeguard stories.”

Lance blew out a breath and chewed on his lip, moving through the options in his mind. “A lot of my weird beach experiences ended up with scars.” Lance pulled at his clothing the show Keith different examples. He lifted the left sleeve of his t-shirt to show off a scar that ran down his shoulder and then pulled down his collar to show a couple more scars. Lastly, he lifted up the hem of his shirt, exposing his _ahem_ abs as Keith noticed, and exposed a bite mark in the form of a scar.

“Holy shit,” Keith whispered under his breath. Lance nodded and let his shirt back down, resting his hands on the tabletop. Keith glanced down at them and noticed some scars running across the back of Lance’s left hand. He absentmindedly ran his finger along the biggest scar, and blushed when Lance raised his hand to link it with Keith’s.

“It’s whatever,” Lance shrugged and Keith looked up to find him blushing too. They rested their linked hands on the table and continued the conversation as if nothing was out of the ordinary. “These marks on my hand was from a pretty scary day. I swam out to save somebody drowning, but on my way back some stray boat parts were floating around for reasons I still don’t know, and I cut my hand on a blade as I was stroking through the water.”

Keith gave a sympathetic smile and gave Lance’s hand a squeeze. “That sucks that you got injured while saving somebody. I’m glad you’re okay now.”

The two looked at each other for a long silence before they jumped apart. “Hi! Here’s you orders,” the waitress set down their meals in front of each boy, oblivious to her interruption, “Sorry for the wait, I’m sure you know about the festival going on. It’s just been crazy in the kitchen today!” The two waved her off and thanked her as she left to run around more tables.

Both boys also moved on from their moment to eat their meals, sneaking Cosmo some pieces of meat too. Keith was very confused, too. _What the hell was that? I keep letting my guard down and I’m not even mad about it, but I also don’t know what any of this means! The day’s only half over too, how am I supposed to make it through without making a bigger fool of myself?_

After they finished up and paid, the three headed back to the main beach once again and grabbed towels and water from Lance’s bus. They set up in a space Lance got for them through his random connections with people and ran for the water to cool down.

“Last one in is a rotten egg!” Lance ripped his shirt off and sprinted towards the water with a loud laugh, calling to the dog as well, “C’mon Cosmo, c’mere boy!” Cosmo sprinted in and passed Lance to jump in with a big splash.

“That’s real mature, McClain,” Keith called after him, but ran as well with a smile on his face. It hadn’t quite hit him that Lance was shirtless though.

Lance obviously beat him with his head start, but Keith was closely behind and tackled him. The two dunked under and fought to reach the surface first. They gasped for air between laughs as they continued to splash each other and try to get the upper hand. Cosmo swam and splashed around in the excitement.

“Just give up, Mullet! I’m obviously the superior one here,” Lance slapped his hands down, making the water shoot up and rain down onto Keith’s head.

“Never!” Keith dunked under out of sight and reappeared behind Lance to jump on his back and tackle him yet again. “Gotcha!”

Lance was strong enough to hold him up though and didn’t fall. “You know, Keith. You’ve been tackling me so much lately I’m going to start thinking you _like_ me,” Lance grabbed onto Keith’s legs to keep him up as Keith wrapped his arms around his neck to rest on Lance’s chest.

Keith’s laughter stopped and his face grew hot as he realized both of them were shirtless and wet. Keith suddenly let go of Lance and fell backwards, slipping out of Lance’s grip and splashing into the water. He came up spluttering water and Lance turned around with a concerned face.

Suddenly Lance had picked Keith up bridal style and was carrying him out of the water. Cosmo followed closely behind and when Lance placed Keith onto the towels at their beach spot and sat down next to him, the dog laid in the sand, covering his coats with the small rocks.

“You okay?” Lance gently traced a finger along Keith’s cheek with worried eyes. Keith sat up, as he noticed Lance probably was remembering his bad memories of life guard duty.

“Yeah,” Keith placed his hand over Lance’s on his cheek still, “I’m fine.”

Lance smiled and looked at Keith for a long time before it seemed he made up his mind about something. Keith felt him getting closer to his face and glancing down at his lips and panicked. Cosmo came to his rescue yet again and barked as he ran up to another family setting up a spot on the sand.

Keith hopped to his feet and ran over, “Cosmo, boy! Stop that, come here!”

Lance only sighed in defeat and looked up to the blue sky.

»

The rest of the day went as smoothly as it could have after that awkward encounter. The two got a light dinner and walked around under the lights as darkness fell over the city. They found their way back to Lance’s ride, the day coming to an end. When they both sat in the front seats with Cosmo passed out in the backseat, Lance spoke up.

“Want to come back to my place and hang out a little longer?”

Keith was hesitant, but shrugged “why not”. They arrived back fairly quick, and found Hunk and Allura hanging out in the back on the private beach with a campfire going. They all said their hellos, Hunk and Allura glancing at each other knowingly, and Lance dropped Cosmo off with the two to lead Keith to a more secluded area. He laid out a blanket for them to sit on and pulled out his guitar that he had brought along from the bus.

When both got comfortable, Lance sounded nervous as he spoke. “Can I,” he took a deep breath, “I want to play you a song.”

Keith was confused what was so different about this song since Lance had never been shy about music or singing before. “Of course, you know I love your guitar playing and singing.”

Lance settled the guitar on his thigh and took another deep breath. He closed his eyes and started strumming and the words just fell out of his mouth like they were the most natural thing in the world. Keith could still hear a hint of hesitation though, and as he listened closely to the lyrics it all clicked in his mind.

_The other day I just heard his voice,_

_Softly as I sleep, it’s only in my dreams._

_He brought me out of my thoughts,_

_But I’ve never felt so lost._

Keith related to the lyrics at some point, because right now he felt really lost and really confused. He felt like Lance was sending him so many mixed signals, but at the same time being really damn straightforward and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he was having such a difficult time deciphering his actions.

_Could he be the one to cheer me up when I’m down?_

_Maybe he’ll find that I’m just his type,_

_Maybe he’s got an open mind._

Keith at some point realized the strumming and tune sounded familiar, and soon after realized it had been the melody Lance was mumbling all those other times. At the campfire, a week or two after he arrived. In the kitchen, making eggs and bacon after he took Keith and Cosmo in during the storm. And now, after spending all day with Keith.

All those other moments suddenly held an infinitely higher significance than before, and lance continued his beautiful singing.

_Purple, indigo, violet_

_I love the color of your eyes I can’t hide it._

Keith’s face blushed hard, and he fiddled with the bracelet on his wrist remembering Lance’s words from earlier in the day.

_The way you play with your sleeves when you’re feeling uneasy_

_And cover your smile when you’re laughing_

_Could he be the one to cheer me up when I’m down?_

_Maybe he’ll find that I’m just his type,_

_Maybe he’s got an open mind._

_I can’t lie, I can’t lie_

_You were just my type, I can’t lie, I can’t lie_

_Want you by my side, I can’t lie, I can’t lie_

The guitar suddenly stopped and all that filled the night was silence. Keith was shocked and he had absolutely no idea what to do. He was speechless. Kind of.

“Did you… Did you write that?”

Lance nodded, but noticed Keith wasn’t looking at him and said, “Yeah, I’m sorry,” Keith tensed up a little, “I’m kind of realizing that that’s a big step for two people who’ve only known each other less than two months.”

Keith slowly nodded, taking it all in. Did this mean today _was_ a date? Keith was so goddamn confused, and he really needed to clear his head to think.

“Keith?” Keith looked up into Lance’s eyes. Even though it was nearly pitch black out, he could still clearly see those blue eyes. “Umm, so what did you think?” Keith choked up again, _what do I think? I don’t fuckin know!_

Keith looked away and out towards the water, which also glowed blue. He looked towards the sky, a dark blue lit up by the moon. Blue was everywhere and that’s how he felt; blue, sad, confused, drowning. _I need time to think, I rushed into this, but I didn’t even know this was a… well whatever this is._

“I- I uhh,” Keith suddenly leapt to his feet, “I gotta go.”

Lance’s confusion and worry turned into shock and concern. “Wait, let me give you a ride back-”

Keith started speed walking back towards the houses and the road, “No, that’s alright,” he waved his hands around, “Cosmo and I will just walk home, it’s really nice out anyway. It’s only a few blocks it’ll be fine.”

Keith knew he was a terrible liar, especially considering not too long ago he had stayed the night at Lance’s specially because Pidge’s apartment was too far to walk to in the rain. But he thought, _fuck this I need some me time in the dark on a walk home with my fluffy pal to think things through._

Lance struggled to grab the blanket and shake the sand off while holding his guitar and rushing after Keith. “Oh, okay! Well, see you tomorrow?”

Keith nodded and rushed off towards Hunk and Allura. They looked visibly confused, just like Keith and Lance felt, and Cosmo perked his head up off his paws.

“Hey guys. Bye guys. I’ll be heading out for the night, now.” Keith’s words came out a jumbled mess and he grabbed Cosmo’s leash to head out. He was in such a rush he even forgot his stuff in Lance’s bus, but he honestly couldn’t care about anything else expect getting home and going to sleep. He didn’t want to think about how this day was absolutely perfect and how he just ruined it because he got scared. He also didn’t want to think about where this put him and Lance and how Pidge would react or how Shiro or Adam would. He just wanted some time to himself to think about it all, and think about nothing at all.

Keith heaved a heavy sigh and Cosmo looked up at him curiously. Tomorrow was going to be a _long_ day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry for ending their lovely day on a wonky note, it will work out I promise!! Keith just needs to think things through :')


	7. Soon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith deals with his feelings with advice from Coran.

Sometimes water is murky, and you can hardly see into the shallow areas. Other times, the water appears crystal clear. Keith liked to think his dull expression he often wore masked his emotions like dirty brown water hides fish and other critters. Those who knew Keith personally, however, saw through him easily, as if his ‘mask’ was transparent, and they could look right into his soul.

»

Keith sat behind the counter with his elbow propped up and his chin in his hand. The day went by achingly slow as rain pored outside, so nobody was getting a carwash on a rainy day. This was nice, because Keith’s mind was far too clogged to think or help people, but it was also bad because he had more time to mull over his actions from the other day.

Keith had realized two things since running away from his feelings and from Lance. One, he had left his bag of clothes and other miscellaneous items in Lance’s bus. Two, and more importantly, his previous relationship and reason for coming to Cuba in the first place had left a bigger mark on him than he thought.

_I came here for an escape, but I feel like I’m falling right back into what I was running from._

“Keith, could you set up the pamphlet displays and refill the complementary water?” Keith turned his head to the side, still in his own hand, to see Coran standing expectantly with his hands on his hips. He gazed with a bored expression, and Coran gave an impatient, yet concerned, frown. “You okay? You’ve been distracted the entire shift and you look a little red,” Coran rushes up to place a hand under Keith’s bangs, “You aren’t getting sick are you?”

Keith responded with a dramatic sigh. “No, I’m not sick. Lance and I were out all day and I got sunburned even with sunscreen.”

“Oh, well that doesn’t answer my first question,” Coran retracts his hand, “Are you okay?”

“I think I’ve ruined everything, Coran,” he drops his hand to place his forehead on the counter.

“I’m sure it can’t be that bad,” Coran replied, pulling out a stool to sit in front of Keith, “Tell me what happened.”

Keith raised his head, Coran shrugged his shoulders. _Well, what do I have to lose now?_ Besides, Coran knew Pidge and Lance and the rest of the gang, so maybe he could help.

“I think I screwed up with Lance,” Keith started, fiddling with the hem of his uniform shirt. When silence stretched on, Coran raised his eyebrows for him to continue. “He set up this perfect day for us and poured his heart out to me – in the form of a _song_ too – and I just… I ran away. I got… scared.”

Coran twisted his mustache then moved his hand to rub his chin with his thumb and index finger. “In my experience, Lance is a very understanding guy. He wears his heart on his sleeve and often gets hurt because of it, but he forgives anyone he feels deserves a second chance.” Keith bit his lip as he listened. “I don’t know why you’re scared, and it’s not my place to pry, but Lance has been through heartbreak a couple times. If that’s what you’re running from, he would never let that happen to you.”

Keith took a deep breath. “But Lance is literally perfect. What if I’m not good enough?” Keith looked up at Coran, finally making eye contact and continued without letting him answer. “It feels like nobody wants to see me with him either. Pidge is so protective and against me being with him, and I think I’m starting to agree-”

“Shush,” Coran suddenly says, and holds his hand up to quiet Keith. Keith’s eyes only widen as the mustache man continues, “Do you like Lance?”

“Well, I think so, but-”

“Shush! Not ‘buts’. Do _you_ like Lance?”

“Yeah,” Keith swallows the lump in his throat, his doubt slowly dissipating, “Uh, yes. Yes, I like Lance.”

“Did you have fun with him? Do you want to be with him?”

Keith breaks eye contact, suddenly feeling shy. “I wouldn’t be against it…”

“And is Pidge, or anybody else, going to be in this relationship?”

“Well no-”

“Then who is Pidge, or anyone else to stop you if he likes you back?” Keith opened his mouth to argue, but Coran bulldozed through, “We can’t control who we like Keith, we can only control our actions based on how we feel. If you have feelings for Lance, and you want to act upon those feelings, _go for it_. Lance is a great guy and seems to really like you back.”

“What if I’m not what he expects?” Keith voices his doubts, as his fingers still pick at his shirt and his teeth bite down hard into his lip.

“Then he’s a dick,” Coran says and notices Keith’s mouth twitch into a small smile. “Look, you can handle this however you want. I’m just saying that whatever your past is, Lance is only expecting _you,_ and he’ll accept all of you that there is.If you’re still worried, you could even ask him to take things slower and get to know each other more. I’ve seen the way he looks at you and I think he has the patience to wait.”

Keith blushes at the last statement, but grows determined with Coran’s pep talk. He moves to stand up, ready to figure out what he wants and fight for it. “Thanks Coran, I think I know what I need to do.”

Coran pats the counter and stands up too, “Glad to hear it. Now, go finish up your shift and fix up this whole mess. I expect you bright-eyed and positive tomorrow, the sun’s supposed to bring a big crowd.”

Keith nods with a smile, and Coran pats him on the back on his way by to the storage room.

_I can’t run from my problems anymore. I came here for an escape, when what I really need is to heal and move on. If my heart has fallen for Lance, then I can’t just ignore this. He may be the first good thing to happen since my life started to fall apart. I won’t let him go like I let myself go all those months back._

»

Keith and Pidge are sitting in the kitchen, glaring daggers at each other. Why? Because Keith finally grew a spine to fight for what he wants, and Pidge is too protective to let him go that easily.

“Pidge, I know you’re just looking after me, but I have a good feeling about this,” he reaches across the table to rest his hand on Pidge’s, “And you _know_ Lance, he won’t hurt me.”

“I’m just worried, okay? You said this about that last guy, and you ended up wrecked. Shiro and I, we had to,” she snatches her hand out of his grasp to cross her arms as she looks away. “We had to put you back together after what he’d done.”

“And I’m so goddamn thankful you guys were there for me,” Keith’s gaze softens, and he swallows the rocks in his throat, “But I’m not asking for your blessing yet. I just want to test the waters, to get to know him and understand what we have between us.”

Pidge looks up into his eyes with a breaking expression, “If he hurts you I’ll fucking kill him.”

His eyes burn threatening to spill tears, but he cracks a laugh, “I know you will. I just think that this is something I have to do. I’m done running from myself and how I feel because I’m scared. I want to be able to face this on my own.” Pidge still looks unsure, so he adds, “ _Please.”_

That seems to be her breaking point and she stiffly nods. “Okay.” Keith gives a small smile as she pulls her lips into a tight, thin line. “Only tell me if I need to punch someone, I don’t want to hear about any of that cringy lovey shit.”

His smile widens because he knows that’s just a cover. Pidge doesn’t tend to like hearing about romance and kisses and mushy stuff, but Keith knows she likes to hear about her friend’s happiness. He knows she’s here for him through the ups and downs and that’s all that matters, even if it means he’ll have to convince her to let him go one day. Her friendship had put him back together, gotten him all the way here, and soon it’d be time to let him figure things out on his own.

»

A couple hours after Keith and Pidge’s intense conversation, there’s a knock at the door. It’s not too late, only the afternoon, but the weather is miserable and it’s an odd time for somebody to stop by. Pidge is on the phone with Hunk going over a tech project, so she flips her hand around at Keith to go answer it.

Keith’s jaw almost drops open when he finds Lance sheepishly standing in the doorway. His curly hair is slightly damp from the rain outside and he holds a bag – Keith’s bag, from yesterday’s adventure – out in front of him.

“Heyyyyy, Keith,” Lance starts and rubs the back of his neck with one hand, “Can we talk?”

It takes Keith a beat to realize that, _yes, Lance is standing here, this is really happening,_ and nod and gesture into the apartment. Pidge looks up with a questioning glance and the front door shuts closed, and she glances between the two boys. She begins to say something, but Keith cuts her off from behind Lance with his exaggerated gestures to “shut the hell up.”

Lance misses these silent statements and Keith quickly ushers him to his bedroom, away from the gremlin. When he gets the door shut behind him, he leans against it with a long sigh, then glances shyly up at Lance, who takes a seat on his bed.

“Look, I wanted to apologize,” Lance starts, and gestures helplessly with his hands in front of him.

“Lance you really don’t-” Keith says as he stands up straight, but is cut off.

“No, listen,” Keith obediently shuts his mouth and moves to sit next to the other boy. “I was completely out of line. I don’t know if I read things wrong, but I really like you and I got a little ahead of myself. I totally understand if you don’t feel the same, or even if you want to stop being friends,” Lance nervously rants on and on, not once making eye contact with Keith. “What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry.”

Keith is kind of surprised, but lets out a small laugh, confusing the poor guy. “Lance, you didn’t have to apologize, though it’s very kind and appreciated, but I should be the one apologizing,” Keith rubs at his elbows and turns to his left to face Lance with a sad smile, “I overreacted, and I guess I got scared. I don’t really want to get into it, but something happened to me a while ago that kind of effected how I view… well, relationships.”

Lance looks at him with soft, silent eyes, and waits for Keith to continue. “I had a really great time yesterday, and I’d love to go out with you again, but if we’re going to do… _this,”_ Keith says and flicks his hand between them, “I need things to be a little slower. I really do like you, but I don’t want to rush into anything. I want to move on from everything that’s happened to me before I pull you into my life.”

Lance slowly, softly, takes Keith’s hand into both of his. “Okay,” he almost whispers, with a smile that crinkles his eyes, “I’ll wait for you as long as it takes, Mullet.” Keith laughs at the nickname, and stares back at Lance.

It feels like a moment where they’re the leads in a story about to kiss, but Keith only pulls Lance in for a hug. They squeeze each other tight and hold on for a few minutes. Lance runs his fingers through Keith’s soft, dark hair, and Keith nuzzles his face into Lance’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” Keith manages, barely audible, and Lance grips him tighter in understanding and reassurance.

Keith might not be ready for a relationship, but he’s ready to put the past behind him. He’s ready to grow and to heal and to let Lance in. He wants to be a part of Lance’s life, wants every day to be as much fun as yesterday had been. He’s ready to look forward and let himself fall head over heels for this golden boy.

 _Soon,_ Keith thinks, _I’ll be ready for you soon, Lance. I promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow this story turned from a short story to a slow burn i-
> 
> Also I saw that the artist ikimaru (I think that's what it is???) Drew some klance art w lance spraying Keith w a hose and Keith chasing him w a bucket of water and I SWEAR that I had never seen that before I wrote chapter 2 I think it was.... anyway purely coincidence I'm so sorry it looks like I copied 😭😭✌


	8. Hippie Tings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance's friendship grows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse that this chapter is random chaotic shit ://// anyway I didn't know how else to get from point a to b since I accidentally wrote chapter 9 before 8 and idk anyway here jdjdjfkdldld

Like a flat stone across standing water, Lance and Keith skipped their way through friendship to the makings of something more. Barely skimming the surface of everything they could hope for, and finally making the final plunge down deep.

»

_Two weeks later (Now Present Time):_

Lance’s phone rang and he grimaced when he saw Hunk was calling.

“Heyyyy buddyyyy,” Lance drawled out his greeting, scared for backlash.

“Lance, do you mind explaining to me why I got a call at midnight from the local fire department??” Hunk’s voice came through the phone speaker and Lance perched his lips out.

“My candle was burning too bright?” Lance tried at humor, but quickly realized his mistake.

“ _Lance_ ,” Hunk’s firm voice came through yet again, and Lance was thoroughly scared. Hunk didn’t really get mad and this was getting pretty damn close. He loved his kitchen, after all.

“Well, you see,” Lance glanced to his right where Keith was approaching him, “we were making lasagna and just got a little distracted…”

Hunk sighed heavily on the other side of the line, “Were you making out with somebody?”

Lance spluttered, eyes wide and a blush furiously rising to his cheeks.

“Wh- what?!”

“Was it Keith??” Hunk sounded serious, which only flustered Lance more.

“ _NO!_ Hunk what are you _saying??”_ Keith gave him a curious glance and Lance quickly turned away from him, attemping – and failing – to hide his red face.

“Well, at least tell me my kitchen is okay-”

“ _Yes,_ Hunk your precious _kitchen_ is _okay_ ,” Lance closed his eyes tightly, “Okay, _bye.”_

“Wait-”

Lance ended the call abruptly, shoving his phone in his pocket. He turned around only to find Keith standing directly behind him, further flustering the taller boy.

“Was that Hunk?” Keith asked, oblivious to Lance’s embarrassment.

“Uhh- yeah,” Lance felt how close the two of them were to each other and turned his face away. “He was just saying I suck at making lasagna,” Lance felt himself heating up as he lied straight through his teeth to try and save his ass, praying that Keith wouldn’t question him further.

“You do kind of suck at making lasagna, you almost burned down the kitchen,” Keith said matter-of-factly, to which Lance spun around, offended. Keith giggled at his reaction, and Lance muttered to himself about how he’s ‘the best lasagna cooker in all of Cuba’.

»

After Lance and Keith got past the initial awkwardness of knowing of their feelings but not acting on them, they hung out more than ever – as _friends,_ of course. Lance was especially pumped to teach Keith everything he learned growing up in return for their sparring sessions. Keith had reassured Lance there was no need, who only insisted in response, leading to Keith being pulled into some weird type of hippie voodoo.

“Okay, when I said that you did yoga at sunrise I was _joking_ ,” Keith said as he found himself set up on a mat, sitting criss-cross next to Lance, staring at the beams of light peeking over the ocean horizon. The VW Bus was parked a couple yards away on the path they’d driven up on at the butt crack of dawn.

“Well, you were scarily accurate,” Lance had his eyes closed in the same position as Keith and spared him a peek with one open eye, “now shush, I’m trying to _meditate_ , we’re not to yoga yet.”

Keith let out a breathy laugh and turned away from Lance. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, opened his eyes, and felt himself become hypnotized by the view of the rising sun.

“It’s beautiful, Lance,” Keith breathed out and Lance merely smiled as he moved into some stretches. Keith followed suit and realized he was not nearly as flexible as Lance. _Hippie._

“Just follow my moves, I don’t want to explain my whole routine to you,” Lance stood up and reached for his toes for ten seconds then moved to pulling each arm across his chest. He glanced to Keith and rolled his eyes when he saw him struggling for his toes and then popping his shoulder joints on the arm stretches.

The moment was peaceful and quiet. Keith felt content and followed Lance’s moves as the orange and yellows peeked over the beach, shimmering off the water and nearly blinding him. He squinted his eyes with faux annoyance and scrunched his face up, then moved into downward dog like Lance did.

“You do this every morning?”

“Nah, I try for once or twice a week though, gets my nerves and stress out.”

Keith nodded in understanding and thought to himself he might join Lance on these weekly yoga sessions, but he went back on himself when he remembered he’s not a morning person. Today was just an exception because Lance really wanted him to come. Keith was glad he tagged along, though he’d never admit to it.

They enjoyed the sunrise and stretching and relaxation for another good half hour until the sun was fully blazing down on them.

»

“Keith you can’t keep giving him treats for no reason! You’re spoiling him,” Lance snatched the bag of dog treats away from Keith who cried out in response. Kosmo spun in circles expectantly, jumping up occasionally at Lance’s raised hands that held his prize.

“But he’s so cute, Lance!” Keith gestured helplessly at their big fluffy baby, “Look at him!”

Lance hummed in response, but he only had eyes for an oblivious Keith.

“We have to _teach_ him with the treats as a _reward_ , otherwise he’ll never learn,” Lance turned towards Kosmo and rose his eyebrows. “Sit.”

…

Kosmo stood wagging his tail with a big open smile and big puppy dog eyes. Lance pressed his lips into a thin line and squinted his eyes.

“Sit,” he said and held his closed fist to show Kosmo what he wanted him to do. Kosmo only tilted his head to the side, clearly confused.

Keith giggled and Lance sent him a half-hearted glare.

“See? Now he won’t even listen to one of the most basic commands,” Lance made his way around to Kosmo’s back side and lightly pressed onto his back near the tail. “Sit. Sit sit sit.”

Kosmo only spun around and tried to snatched the bag of treats out of Lance’s hands.

“This is hopeless!”

»

Ear-shattering chords from a guitar split through the house and Hunk was not having it. He thought he told Lance never to let Allura near his instruments – they loved her, but she had no touch of musical talent whatsoever. He let Lance know exactly this thought.

“Lance I thought I told you never to let Allura near your instruments—” Hunk cut himself off as he swung around the bottom of the stairs and not Allura, but Keith sitting next to Lance, looked up at him. “Oh, Keith. Hey.”

Lance snickered next to Keith, who turned to glare daggers at the taller boy sat next to him on the couch. Lance’s guitar looked amusingly large in comparison to Keith’s smaller, yet toned, frame.

“Was I really that bad?” Keith pouted and continued, “Lance told me the story about Allura, I thought I didn’t sound that terrible.”

Hunk gave him a sorry smile and shrugged, heading to the kitchen. He distantly heard Lance laughing some more and then him exclaiming “Ouch!” in response to what Hunk assumed was a punch from Keith. Hunk shook his head with a smug smile.

»

Pidge felt expectant eyes on her and glanced up from her laptop as she lounged on the couch of her apartment. Peeking over the top of the screen was Keith, Lance, and Kosmo, all standing with big goofy grins on their faces. She raised her eyebrows.

“Do you… need something?”

The grins grew wider. Her eyebrows raised higher.

“We want to show you Kosmo’s progress!” Lance gave little jazz hands to prove his point further, so Pidge set her computer aside on the cushion next to her and heaved a sigh.

“Okay, whatcha got?”

Keith pulled a bag of treats out from behind him and turned to Kosmo with a big smile. She noted this was probably the happiest she’d seen him in a long while. Then again, that seemed to be any time he was around Lance or the dog.

“Sit!” Keith said firmly, with a closed fist. Kosmo sat. Kosmo got a treat and a head pat.

Lance pulled his own bag of treats of from behind his back and picked it up.

“Lay down!” Kosmo laid down. Kosmo was rewarded a treat.

“Roll over!” Keith gestured with his hand in a circle and Kosmo rolled over. Kosmo shot back up and got yet another treat, his tail flipping around wildly.

“Kosmo… BANG!” Lance mimicked a gun and fake shot the dog who flopped onto the floor and raised his paws in the air. He earned yet another treat, and was showered in ‘Good Boy’s and loving pats on his head and belly and paws.

The three turned back to Pidge, eyes bright.

“Well?”

Pidge couldn’t manage to hold back her smirk. “That was somethin’ you guys,” she said. Despite the seemingly sarcastic remark, the three leaped off to Keith’s room with giddy and childish excitement. Pidge shook her head, pulling her laptop back onto her legs and laughing to herself.

_Dorks._

»

Keith wasn’t very good at playing the guitar yet, obviously. If Hunk’s reaction to his first try was anything to go by, he was actually awful. But he really wanted to try to get good – or, decent, at the very least – because he planned to write Lance a song.

Keith had little to no experience with music or instruments, let alone songwriting and singing, but the song Lance wrote for him was super fucking sweet and fuck him he wanted to return the favor. He also remembered Lance mentioning he got into music to channel his feelings or something, and Keith didn’t know how to deal with his feelings for Lance at the moment.

His guitar journey was off to a rough start, but he did a teeny bit of research and had been borrowing Lance’s guitar. He suspected that Lance suspected something was up, but he didn’t bring it up so Keith didn’t explain himself.

»

“C’mon, I’ll teach you some easier chords,” Lance distracted Keith from his frustration and began pointing to new strings on different frets. Keith pouted a little, which Lance found absolutely unfair and adorable, but reluctantly tested out the new hand positions. “Now strum.”

Another broken, pitchy sound came out of the guitar. Keith grimaced and Lance bit back another hard laugh. “Try this, and make sure you’re pressing the strings hard enough,” Lance gently picked up and replaced Keith’s fingers to the correct strings and pressed them down for some emphasis. Keith played the chord correctly – finally – and smiled up at Lance, but quickly changed his face into a frown.

“My fingers hurt, look they’re all red and irritated,” Keith gave Lance his hand, palm up. Lance dragged his fingers across Keith’s slowly and softly. “How do you play guitar so often? I feel like my hands are going to bleed.”

Lance laughed and showed Keith his own hands in return. “If you play enough, your fingers will build up resistance, like with callouses.” Keith ran his fingertips over Lance’s and looked a little in awe.

“I’ve gotta get practicing if I’m going to be as good as you then,” Keith put on a determined face and Lance’s smile reached his eyes. He felt like he was falling for the other boy more and more every day and having to stay friends was nearly killing him. But he felt his feelings were returned and knew all there was left was to wait, and he could deal with a little patience in return for this love he was so close to experiencing.

Keith turned back down to the guitar and placed his fingers into the C position, then D, then G, and back around again without strumming yet. He was trying so hard already to get good at something so important to Lance, which made his heart clench and his head dizzy. This boy didn’t know what he did to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen to the song looking out for you by joy again :)
> 
> Also I just read the "more than human" ppg/rrb fanfic that's over 300000 words in the past few days and I'm thoroughly wrecked IT'S SO GOOD READ IT anyway bye


	9. BiTcH LaSaGnA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance teaches Keith how to make lasagna. Or at least tries to... Keith opens up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had the last 2 chapters done for a while I was jsut too lazy to psot eek. I think they feel rushed but I'm honestly done w this story and I'm working on new ones. This one honestly jsut turned into a crack fic at a lot of places I have no excuse.

Keith was dipping a toe into the shallow end. Barely gathering the courage to take the few steps down into the water. Over on the other side of the pool, Lance leaped off the diving board in the deep end. Keith swallowed his fear, and backed out completely. His movements were slow as he made his way to stand in front of Lance who swam up to the edge to meet him.

“No pressure,” Lance’s voice came, softly, “I’ll be here when you’re ready for me.”

Keith’s heart pounded within his chest. He shut his eyes and reached down to the water to feel the temperature with his hand. The water was cold, but not freezing.

Keith slowly opened his eyes and took his hand out to wrap it around his other wrist. His muddled expression gazed back at him on the pool surface. The water was cold, but in a refreshing way.

Keith saw his own hand move towards him, towards his expression, and reached in. He kept reaching till he felt like he was about to fall in. But he also felt he _wanted_ to fall in. The water was cold, but in a wake-up call way.

Speaking of wake-up-

»

_Two weeks later (Now Present Time):_

Keith leaped upright in his bed, feeling as though he had fallen into the pool. This was the third night he’d had this dream of some variation, and it was all he could think about. He had worked things out with Lance, but his crush’s understanding and patience plagued his thoughts. He couldn’t help but feel undeserving.

»

“This is not a good idea,” Keith remarks, voice full of doubt.

“Pshh, how could this go wrong?” Lance replies, voice full of _confidence._

 _What couldn’t go wrong with you involved?_ Keith thinks, but keeps the comment to himself for once.

Currently, Lance is adamant that Keith must learn how to cook, and that Lance has to be the one to teach him. It’s just the two of them at Hunk and Lance’s shared home because Hunk is out with Allura and her friend Shay (Lance tells Keith that Hunk’s got an obvious crush on the new girl).

“Let’s just go over the basics,” Lance spins all around the kitchen pulling out bowls and pots and pans. He turns and shoots Keith an expectant look, eyebrows raised, “Have you made pasta before?”

“Well, I-”

“Oh, never mind! Let’s just make a batch of cookies. Or we could make homemade mac and cheese and surprised Hunk for dinner… _No wait-_ how about lasagna!!” Lance starts to go over the family recipe he has for lasagna and Keith finds he has a very hard time following his train of thought. He follows Lance’s lead anyway, but they find they don’t have nearly enough ingredients.

“I could head to the store if you make a list,” Keith offers, and Lance fakes an offended gasp.

“I don’t trust someone who calls _Baby_ a _rust bucket_! No way in hell,” Lance yanks his apron off and drags Keith out to the bus.

It had become the usual for them to drive around town together, especially since they started spending more and more time together. After the not-date fiasco, the two boys went back to their usual routine of sparring and working out at the gym. Lance even started picking up Keith from work some days, which Coran raised a questioning eyebrow at. Keith wasn’t complaining though; he felt like he was truly connecting with Lance, which he hadn’t experienced since he met Shiro, which was obviously in a different type of way.

Keith and Lance now stood in the hall of noodles.

“Do we want thicker, but less layers, or thinner, but more layers?” Lance’s face was scrunched up in the way Keith found was absolutely adorable. He would never admit it out loud to anybody though, especially not Lance.

“I’m gonna go with thicker,” Keith said seriously, but Lance only turned a smirk on him.

“That’s what she said,” Lance replied with a smug expression and lazy grin. Keith rolled his eyes and pushed the boy to get going, but inwardly smiled at the stupid joke.

Back at the apartment, it seemed the cooking was going fine. Lance seemed to know what he was doing, too. But.

But.

Lance sidled up behind Keith, wrapping his palms over the smaller boy’s hands, and rested his chin on the other’s shoulder to peek at what he was showing him. He guided Keith’s hands to slice up ingredients for the meal, but Keith couldn’t pay attention to anything but the warmth at his back. He definitely felt closer to Lance emotionally wise as of lately, but they had gotten closer physically as well.

He wasn’t complaining though, just blushing.

Suddenly, his back was cold again, and he realized he felt empty in a way without Lance. Physically or emotionally. Not in a reliant way – obviously, he could live without romance in his life – but things felt so right with Lance around.

“Okay, that should be the last of it,” Lance took Keith’s work and mixed it with other ingredients in a pan. He spread it in a layer, then added a strip of a thick noodle thing, then spread another layer, and continued the process a couple times more.

Soon enough, the pan of pasta and sauce and godliness was in the oven, baking at 375.

The two headed out to the living room and plopped on the couch to watch a humorously bad horror film. As Keith gathered blankets and pillows, Lance walked around the turn off the lights while ranting about how good the lasagna was going to be.

“I’m so excited for you to try it, but also for Hunk to taste it so I can prove I’m a worthy chef in his kitchen,” he continued the small rant and Keith only shook his head with a smile. They settled back in, a reasonable distance between them considering they were “just friends” right now.

The movie was as bad as they expected, but Lance still screamed dramatically at every jump scare. Keith merely flinched. He thought it was good they hadn’t made popcorn though because they would’ve had a huge mess to clean up from Lance jumping up.

“I don’t understand why you are so surprised every time,” Keith starts as the main character, a blonde chick, peeked under a car in a dark alleyway. _Okay, that is so fucking stupid, who would do that??_ Keith thought to himself then said, “I mean it’s obvious the jump scare is going to come, especially when you account for the music building up in the background. It’s nothing to- AH HOLY SHIT!”

Keith’s rant was cut off as the girl’s head was chopped off and he shouted with wide eyes. He knew the jump scare was coming, but the gore caught him by surprise. He peeked a look at Lance who had a smug expression painted on his face.

“You were saying?” Lance said and glanced down to Keith. Keith hadn’t realized how close he’d jumped onto Lance. He had been playfully shoving Lance’s shoulder when his mid-rant scare caused him to wrap both his arms around Lance like he was his lifeline.

Keith quickly let go and distanced himself a good foot away. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting the bimbo idiot to be decapitated,” he said with an annoyed edge to his voice, but recovered into teasing Lance, “Besides, that’s different than screaming like the girls in the movie every time the killer shows up.”

“Okay Mr. Barely-Bats-an-Eye-at-a-Murderer, at least I would have the instinct to run from a killer,” Lance crossed his arms, turning his head away and holding it high.

Lance glanced to the TV when he heard it click off. “I can’t handle this movie it’s too bad, let’s do something else.”

“We were only half an hour in, it could’ve gotten better,” Lance defended, uselessly. Keith only fixed him with an expression that said he didn’t believe him. “Well, I guess you’re right,” Keith looked a little triumphant at that until, “you can’t handle the movie. You’re a scaredy cat afraid of a little blood.”

Keith spluttered about, but had no witty comeback. He conformed to tackling Lance into the couch, knowing he would always win their spars. Lance was quick to evade Keith’s attack, however, but there was nowhere to go except the floor. When he landed on his side, the room went silent.

“Ouch,” Lance said, which gave Keith the cue that he was alright and it was morally okay to laugh about it. “Shut up, I got away from you didn’t I?”

Keith’s laughter continued to tumble out, “Sure, but at what cost?” Lance gazed at him with a fond smile that Keith returned. Suddenly, Keith’s face went determined and serious, which confused Lance.

Keith thought to himself, _this feels so damn right. Being here with Lance, being so comfortable with him._ Keith drew in a deep breath. _It’s now or never. Don’t let this amazing thing go, Keith._

“Lance, I think- no, I _know,”_ Keith sat up straighter, “I’m ready to tell you everything. Everything you want to know.”

Lance’s lips parted slightly, and he stood up to sit next to Keith. With a hand on his shoulder, “Are you sure? It’s only been a couple weeks; I understand if you’re not ready.”

“I’m ready, I promise. This feels like the right time and I know I trust you and I really care about you so… I want you to know.” Lance nodded silently, and Keith went on.

“The reason I came here, to Cuba, was to escape my past. It was holding me back from enjoying life, and Shiro was completely behind the idea to live here with Pidge when she suggested it. When I tell you I’m grateful for you, Hunk, Allura – everyone here – who took me in, I mean it. I’ve been more relaxed here these couple months than I have felt in _years.”_

Lance gazed down at Keith with soft, sad eyes. Keith swallowed his fear and dove into the deep end.

“A few years back, I met this guy. He flirted with me, asked me on a date, the usual I guess. Soon after, we started dating and it was pretty normal at first. I thought he cared about me. Even Shiro and Pidge were surprised when he turned out to be… well, awful. Anyway, it was really toxic for me. He started getting jealous and possessive of all my friends, which is why I really only had Pidge and Shiro before this summer.

“Whenever I would try to break things off with him, he would threaten to hurt me or even himself. I didn’t want to be there, but I also didn’t want to be responsible for anything so serious, so I stayed. He was also always suspicious of me and would take my phone or send his own friends to spy on me around campus. I never had any personal space or time for myself and I felt so unloved. So uncared for. I felt worthless, and sometimes I still feel that way. I feel like I’m not good enough for anybody around me, like I’m a nuisance.

Keith swallowed his tears and pushed on. If he stopped now he would never finish and tell Lance what he truly wants him to know. He looked up from his fiddling hands and into Lance’s eyes. Gave him a sad smile. A loud sigh.

“Shiro eventually found out what was going on when he saw a black eye. I told him everything and I so thankful he got me out of there. The guy, I don’t want to say his name if that’s okay,” Lance nodded supportively, “The guy didn’t hurt himself, but he tried to hurt me. He tried to hurt Shiro too, but the authorities got to him before he found us. His friends got involved in it too because he snitched. Turns out they were looking for him on the accounts of sexual abuse, robbery, and a bunch of other shit. So, he’s probably rotting in jail now.

Keith felt lost for a second. _Where is this going again?_

“Ah, so… I graduated college, even though my grades had gone to hell, but I couldn’t find a job and my lease ended and it just felt like the world was coming down on me. I had stayed with Shiro since the incident, but his fiancé Adam moved in and I felt like a third wheel. When Pidge moved to Cuba she offered I come with, so I joined her later in the summer. All of the shit with my toxic relationship and whatnot was only a year and a half ago.

“So, Pidge is super damn protective because she saw what he,” Keith felt exhausted and sighed for what felt like the tenth time tonight, “she saw how he changed me, and she just doesn’t want it to happen again. Shiro is more lenient because he had been through something similar before I even met him and had found Adam despite his past. He learned firsthand not everyone is out to get you and he was my main support after I broke things off. He’d been teaching me to trust more, but he felt I needed a change of scenery to truly move on. I think he was right.”

Keith was quiet for a long time so Lance spoke up, “Are you saying you’re past all of that?”

Keith nodded stiffly, “I don’t think anyone can ever forget about something like that, but I’m ready to put it behind me. I’m ready to put my trust into someone I care about and who cares about me back because I trust you Lance.”

Lance took Keith’s hand in his own, “I’ve dealt with my fair share of relationship mishaps, so I can understand. My papa wasn’t exactly ecstatic finding out I was also dating boys, so it was hard that for a while he wouldn’t accept part of who I am. Especially when he tried to set me up with these random girls that I obviously didn’t connect with. My experience can’t come close to everything you experienced, and it hurts me, and I wish you never had to go through that, but I can at least sympathize. I know I can never truly understand, but I hope you know I’ll always be here to talk if you need.

“I’ve said this many times before, but Keith I need you to know that I would never try to hurt you. Especially not like that,” Keith opened his mouth to speak, “I know me saying that doesn’t change your past, but I need you to hear it from me. I care about you, and you’ll always be more than enough – more than I deserve. I care about you too and I want to put my own trust in you.”

Keith felt his eyes pinch and he bit his bottom lip to stop it from shaking. He blinked the tears away and leaned into Lance’s chest. Lance wrapped his arms tightly around Keith and pulled him in, whispering wonderful nothings into his hair.

“Thank you,” Keith found himself saying once again. He was always thanking Lance, and for what? For being someone kind? For caring about him? For trusting him? Keith shook off thoughts of his toxic past and lifted himself out of Lance warm, loving embrace.

“One more thing,” Keith said, voice shaking slightly. Lance looked slightly confused, but listened as he had for the past ten minutes. Keith cleared his voice and straightened, “Lance, I already told you I trust and care about you, but I also like you.”

“Oh,” is all Lance got out before Keith’s confident confession quickly spiraled into nervous mumbling.

“Like, like like you. Like, I-want-to-date-you kind of like you. I know it took me so long to get to this point, but if you still want to, like, go on a date or something, then I’d love to. Or would it be a second date? Did that beach day count as a first date? Because I wasn’t really aware it was supposed to be a date until you sang that song to me. I really appreciate it by the way, you’re so talented at music and it was breathtaking. Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, I think I’m probably in love with you-”

Keith’s brain finally caught up to the words he was saying and he clapped his hand, hard, over his mouth, but the words had already escaped and Lance’s eyes were bugged out of his face. He didn’t look like he was going to say anything so Keith took the reigns again because he couldn’t _stand_ this silence.

“I mean, like friend love, but I like like you in a dating way. I mean – God, _fuck. Holy shit,_ I’m fucking this up so bad,” Keith’s cheeks burned a bright red and he covered his eyes with his hands. _Maybe if I can’t see him, I will disappear._

Lance grasped Keith’s wrists softly and lowered them. Keith looked up into his eyes and waited.

“Hey, chill out. I like you too, and, if I’m being honest, I’m pretty sure I fucking fell in love with you the first time you hung out with us out at the campfire. I mean, I did write a freaking song about you and your eyes,” Lance’s words were steady, but his gaze was everywhere except Keith’s face. He had a blush slowly rising to his own cheeks as well, and he nibbled at his lip.

Keith’s lips parted slowly in a daze, and he suddenly gathered his thoughts, “What does this mean?”

“Well for starters, you could let me take you on a hell of a first date,” Lance lowered Keith’s wrists on to the couch cushion between them and let go of one. He raised his hand up to Keith’s face and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. Lance finally felt the courage to look into the violet phenomena and smiled. “What do ya say?”

Keith felt a smile grow on his own face and he nodded shyly. His eyes then broke away from Lance’s and dropped to his lips. “Hey,” he said curiously, and heard Lance swallow, “can I kiss you?”

Lance sprung up too fast and slipped off the couch onto the floor for the second time tonight. “We’re not going to have our first kiss before a proper first date, Keith!” Keith giggled and Lance crossed his arms with a pout, “Stop making it so hard to wait.”

Keith blushed once again and looked away. _Why am I feeling so shy? I just asked to kiss him what the hell am I doing??? And right after I told him my life story???? Jgoewrjfopwjegpoijer_

The two were shaken from their thoughts by the fire alarm angrily yelling its’ beeps at them. Lance scrambled to the kitchen and when he opened the door a puff of smoke flew out into the living room. Keith jumped over the back of the couch, grabbed the blankets, and waved them around. He reached the kitchen shortly after Lance, who pulled their burnt lasagna out of the oven.

Lance turned around with a frown which Keith just laughed at.

“Maybe we should leave the cooking to Hunk,” Keith noted, and Lance only pouted more.

Opening up to Lance hadn’t been as difficult as he thought it would be, and he felt more cared for than he had in any other relationship and they haven’t even gone on their first date. Though he couldn’t run or escape from his past, he could let it go and stop it from controlling his life. He could make the effort to let in new people, like Lance and his friends, and move on. He had a really good feeling about his future starting from this stupid lasagna and where before he had been scared for the future, now he was excited to see what was in store for him.


	10. Letting Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith goes on a date with Lance (and kosmo).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter... enjoy it's basically all fluff with teeny kosmo angst, and lots of smoochessss. Also this one is like 5k words or smth, so longer than most chapters.

Confessing his pent-up emotions to Lance was the best thing he’s ever done. It sounds dramatic, but it was like breaking down this dam – these walls – that Keith had built up around himself after his past relationship. The water floods through the gates while his feelings tumbled out of his mouth, one line after another.

Now, the water is settled, peaceful almost, and Keith is ready to move on.

»

After Keith’s confession – and Lance’s burnt lasagna – Keith rushed home, not even waiting to call Shiro. Shiro had been the first to help Keith through his rough patches, so he was the first to know the good news.

“I feel like- like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders… a weight I didn’t even know I was carrying,” he had mumbled over the line, Shiro laughing tiredly (Keith called him late at night – early in the morning? – afterall).

“That’s great Keith,” he could hear the shining grin in Shiro’s voice, “I’m really proud of you, how far you’ve come this year.”

Keith bid Shiro goodnight and smiled giddily to himself, feeling idiotic as he pranced all around and down the streets, but content, nonetheless. Arriving back at the apartment brought his nerves back up again, however, at the thought of explaining this whole fiasco to Pidge. She was less willing than Shiro to help Keith get back into the dating scene, just too protective for his sake.

Keith stood in front of Pidge’s bedroom after checking the other rooms for signs of the short, brown-haired girl. He took in a couple deep breaths, shook out his heads, and focused on the posters and pictures decorating the door. He slowly lifted his hand to trace a recent shot of him and her hanging out with the rest of the gang. The butterflies in his stomach settled slightly at the memory, and he found a new confidence in himself.

He gently tapped at her door calling, “Pidge?” in a soft whisper. Rustling was heard beyond and then he was looking down at the small girl rubbing her eyes. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

She shook her head, “Nah, was finishing up some work.” Keith sighed in relief, which she seemed to take notice of. “Something up?”

Keith nodded back and she moved aside to let him in. He sat down on her bed, noticing her laptop partially closed on the end. When he looked up she was still standing in the doorway, staring at him expectantly, so he motioned for her to take a seat.

“Hey, what’s going on? You’re acting super serious.”

“I…” Keith didn’t know how to bring this up subtly, so he blabbed out, “I- I’m going to date Lance.”

Her eyes were wide, the statement barely registering in her brain, “I- wh- what?”

“After that day at the beach a couple weeks ago, I told him I wasn’t ready to date anyone. He said he’d wait,” Keith began fiddling with the hem of his shirt and glancing all around the room, looking anywhere but her eyes, “We’ve been hanging out a lot, as you’ve probably noticed, and I just realized- well, I guess I realized I want something more, too.”

He finally chanced a glance back at her and she looked back in disbelief, mouth opening and closing multiple times as she looked for the right thing to say. He turned away quickly, focusing on the astronomy posters on the wall across from them.

“I don’t know what to say,” she adjusted her glasses on her face and shifted in her position on the bed, “I didn’t think you guys were… there yet. How did this happen?”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, then put it simply, “I told Lance about _him.”_

He heard a choking noise from beside him and patted Pidge on the back. “Wh- what?”

Keith heaved a sigh and continued, “I realized I trust Lance a lot, and I told him pretty much everything. At least everything that explains a lot of my actions- or, well, _reactions_.”

Pidge cleared her throat, “When? When did you tell him, I mean?”

“Tonight. Like an hour ago to be specific.” He looked back at her, who was still shocked and confused and outright unbelieving. “I told Shiro already, but I wanted to tell you as soon as I could, too. I just wanted you to know I’m moving forward.”

“But what if-”

“I trust Lance. And you should too,” he let out a forced laugh, “you introduced us, afterall.”

She scrunched her face up, and he picked up on the hesitation.

“Look, I know I’ve made shitty decisions in the past, but I’m leaving that behind me. I came to tell you this so that you could move on, too. So you can let it go, too.”

“Keith,” she started, but cut herself off with a sniffle. Keith smiled to himself and hugged her, even through her sounds of indignant protesting. “You bitch, I’m- _you’re_ not ready,” she slipped up.

Keith only pulled back with another sad smile, “Pidge, I love you. And I’m so _so_ grateful for your support through this, but I’m ready. I am, I promise. I’ve let go, so I came to ask you to let _me_ go, too.” He rested his hand on her shoulder as she pulled a conflicted expression to her face. “ _Please,”_ he added on, and the expression dropped right off, looking into her lap.

“Yeah- yeah, okay. Fuck, fine.”

His smile curved into another giddy one, like earlier when he’d been jumping around.

She glanced up through her eyelashes and bangs and slapped him lightly upside the head. “We sound like cheesy fuckin’ movie stars,” she laughed out with an eyeroll.

“Yeah, I suppose we do,” he laughed along and then paused. “Thanks, Pidge.”

She shoved him away and off her bed, “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Go hoe it up with Lance, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. He’s annoying as hell; you’ll regret this decision immediately.” She huffed and crossed her arms, sticking her chin up with her eyes closed.

He giggled – _giggled –_ and saw her lips quirk up at the sides, refusing a smile.

“Night, Pidge.” He stood in the doorway another second, then reached for the handle to pull it closed. He faintly heard her mumbling “night, asswipe,” back and he realized she was okay with it all. And he was okay with it, too; maybe not completely okay, but he’d get there, eventually. Soon.

That night Keith went to bed feeling happier and more excited than he’d been in a long time, maybe in his entire life.

»

Keith and Pidge, walking Kosmo, arrived at the boardwalk a little past noon, finding that Allura, Hunk, and Hunk’s girlfriend, Shay, had beat them to the ‘meeting spot’. The day was not unlike Keith’s first day, when he first arrived. The sun was out and blazing heat onto his skin, as it almost always was in summer here, and he already felt his neck getting slick with sweat. His dark hair, very in need of a haircut, wasn’t helping ease the heat.

The trio walked up to the bigger group and blasted into conversation. Going over plans for the day, how their jobs had all been going, their relationships – Hunk and Shay both went scarlet red at this topic. Kosmo only wagged his tail happily in the middle of everything, occasionally getting some coos and scratches. Though he was thankful for the company and often thrived in this group despite being introverted, Keith couldn’t help but feel things were slightly incomplete.

He glanced all around him, whipping his head over his shoulder, scanning the crowds of kids eating ice cream, teens running across the sand, adults wandering with their floppy hats and cameras. _Where is he? He’s always damn late._

Keith felt a tap on his shoulder and glanced to his left to find Allura smiling knowingly at him, “Looking for someone, are we?”

Keith flushed and averted his eyes, but Allura only let out a delighted laugh and picked back up in the convo between Hunk and Pidge over their recent excursions at the tech or science or whatever company they worked at together.

Keith pulled a small frown and began to scan crowds again when he felt a heavy hand on his other shoulder and heard a whisper in his ear that made him jump from shock and then shiver, “Hey there.” They were simple words, really. Nothing special at all… so Keith couldn’t understand why these simple words turned him blushing and nervous.

He whipped his body around to find Lance, standing up tall and with a hand behind his back. He was the last one to arrive for their group outing, which was the last thing on Keith’s mind as Lance ran his tan fingers down his upper arm and all the way to his own hand. Lance held it gently, brought it to his lips as he leaned over, and kissed Keith’s knuckles.

Keith stopped breathing. In fact, he didn’t even notice when Allura slipped Kosmo’s leash out of his hand. The group stared silently and expectantly, all conversation at a halt.

Keith didn’t think there was a way to be blushing harder than he had been already, but alas, Lance proved him wrong through his actions. He faintly heard a gagging noise from Pidge, but was distracted, yet again, by the one and only Lance. The lean boy brought his hidden hand around from behind his back to reveal a bouquet of bright, yellow sunflowers and smaller white flowers tied together in a neat white ribbon. Keith’s eyes widened slightly as Lance placed the collection of nature into the hand he’d been holding and held tightly when his hand went slack from shock and he almost lost the beautiful gift over the docks into the endless water.

“I- umm,” Keith stammered out, caught off guard – obviously – which Lance only furthered smiled smugly at.

Lance patted Keith’s hot cheek and suddenly turned towards the group, who Keith hadn’t realized had been watching the entire encounter. “Shall we get going?”

»

Keith was having a great time, to say the least. Not only because he got to hang out with Lance, but he genuinely enjoyed hanging out with his new friends and he didn’t even feel out of place or intruding with them.

The group had meandered through the fair taking place, hopping on roller coasters, eating sugary food, spending all their cash on games and the like. Now, however, they had split into their respective pairs, insisted by Allura and reluctantly by Pidge. Hunk and shay obviously went off together, same as Lance and Keith, then Allura and the little gremlin. Kosmo still stuck with the new and happy couple, though – he’d practically set them up.

Now, Keith and Lance wandered along a trail similar to the one Keith had found Kosmo on all those nights ago. It seemed this summer had lasted years long, yet only a couple weeks all the same. Keith loved every bit of it, especially as the two reminisced about their stupid shenanigans and miscommunications.

“You know, I really thought you _actually_ hated my bus for a good while back then,” Lance giggled to Keith as they walked with their elbows linked together with Kosmo trotting along Keith’s other side. The sun was fading quicker than expected, especially on a trail with drooping, dark trees, and Keith turned his face up in faux shock at Lance.

“First of all, I do hate your bus,” Keith smirked as the reaction he’d wanted rose out of Lance, who gasped dramatically and stopped their walking. Keith cut him off before he was poking his fingers into his chest with a pouty look, “Second, it wasn’t _that_ long ago! It was like two months.”

Lance stared at him with a grumpy expression, but when Keith raised his eyebrows, he cracked a smile and they resumed their walking, now hand in hand.

“I know, I just feel like I’ve known you forever, ya know?”

Keith nodded back and a comfortable silence fell upon them for a few minutes before Kosmo broke it. A rustle was heard a ways back from the way they were coming from, and the dog perked his big, fluffy ears up, tilting this way and that. Keith and Lance looked at each other in confusion, before their eyes widened and Keith was suddenly yanked down the pathway.

Keith let out a startled gasp as Lance shouted his name, running after him. He felt his grip loosening on the leash and let go when it finally felt like his wrist was about to snap. He hit the gravelly ground hard on his ass when Lance finally caught up to him, leaning onto his knees and breathing heavily.

“You okay?” he asked, reaching out a steady hand – despite the running, as they’d been working cardio into their weekly sparring sessions – to pull Keith to his shaky feet.

“Yeah, I- Holy fuck, shit,” Keith grasped at his hair, eyes wide, “Kosmo!” He whipped his head around, squinting his eyes through the dark trees, desperately trying to make out the dark figure of his best buddy.

“Kosmo!” He yelled again, cause what else could he do? He tried a few more times, now taking big steps down the path and throat starting to feel dry. He heard Lance following behind, contributing every now and then to the calling.

They paced up and over a hill, to which Keith stopped abruptly and Lance crashed into his back.

“Hey- what gives?” He said, glancing down at Keith, whose eyes were fixed on two figures a few hundred feet beyond and down below them. He glanced in the direction Keith was staring at, but the smaller boy suddenly took off in a sprint and Lance didn’t have time to argue because he had to follow after him.

As they neared the dog and tall man, both laying on the ground, they could make out disgusted sounds and struggling. Kosmo had tackled him to the ground to shower him in licks all over his face. The guy didn’t seem too interested in Kosmo’s pursue.

“Kosmo! Down boy,” Keith came to stand next to them, pulling his abnormally large dog off of the stranger. Lance stopped next to him as the guy stood up glaring daggers and the pair.

“Get control of your _savage_ dog, he almost killed me,” the stranger practically spit out at them, sneering and curling his lip in annoyance. Keith couldn’t help it – he let out a laugh – and the older guy narrowed his aggravated eyes.

“Kosmo would never hurt a fly,” Keith commented casually, to which the other man didn’t seem relieved to hear at all.

“You know, I’m going to have my agents hear about this. What’s your names? I will have them _ruin_ your lives and this stupid _canine_ of yours-”

Lance suddenly interrupted, eyes like sauces and a hand falling over his open mouth, “Wait- wait, hold _shit_. Are you Lotor?” Lance smacked Keith’s shoulder over and over as Keith gathered up Kosmo’s leash into his hands. He finally looked at Keith with expectant eyes, to which he only got confusion. Lance scoffed, “ _Lotor._ You know, that guy with the talk show? He’s met a bunch of celebs – Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber…” Lance rattled on more names of basic rich people Keith didn’t care to keep up with.

Lotor cut in, “Yes, I am. Now, what’s your name so I may report you to the authorities for _assaulting_ me with your _beast.”_

Keith spoke over him, angry now, “He’s a _dog_ , you can’t count puppy kisses as an _assault_.” He deadpanned; _this guy is an absolute dick._

He only then remembered this “Lotor” guy’s threat and yanked Lance by the wrist, running away. Thankfully, the prick didn’t chase after them – probably too scared to get his expensive suit dirtier or some shit – but they high tailed it out of there quick. Lance spluttered along the way, but what could he do? He was hopelessly lovesick and wouldn’t defy Keith before knowing the reasons behind leaving a celebrity without getting a picture.

When they reach the sandy beach, Lance shoots into his lighthearted argument and Keith shuts him down with his own.

“That guy was going to try and report us to the police. He’s got money, I’m sure he could do worse too.”

Lance shut up at that, but the two started laughing about the entire encounter. Keith, for one, was glad they found Kosmo with hardly any trouble, and kind of proud of his boy that he took down – even though it was for affection, not hatred – such a stuck up and entitled guy.

Walking along the sand, Kosmo occasionally digging up the cold parts to lay and roll around in, they made their way across to the fair again. Lance tugged Keith into the Ferris wheel line.

“What will we do with Kosmo?” He asked, and Lance only smirked. Suddenly, Allura was behind them with a grumbling Pidge to take their child off of their hands for the time being. Allura’s smile came bright and happy while Pidge frowned and acted annoyed or disgusted with the hand-holding the boys were doing. (Secretly, Keith knew she was happy for them, but he knew she had a reputation to uphold, so he didn’t ever comment on it).

“Thanks, girls. We’ll meet ya back at the beach soon,” Lance shooed them away to be alone with Keith again, and soon enough they were loaded into a tight fitting, rocking, Ferris wheel seat. The guy managing the ride bent the squeaky safety bar down across their laps. As the seat went up and back and next one came to the platform, Lance took Keith’s hand in his own and squeezed tight.

Keith looked at him with a blush and a smile, two things that seemed to be permanent on his face as of lately, and the seat continued to creep higher into the sky.

Looking around them was a sight to behold; almost to the top, the entire fair including the beach and ocean came into view as the darkness of night fell upon them. Only the sky really held the dark, however, as the fair lights shimmered all around and the stars came out to shine. The moonlight bounced off the ocean water, and Keith couldn’t think of something more beautiful at the moment.

Besides Lance, of course. Lance giggled beside him, looking in awe at the lights and the view and breathing in the cold night air with a gleaming smile. God, that smile was perfect, and Keith’s face always seemed to mirror it when he saw it. Said gleaming boy turned to him and brought their faces close, foreheads touching.

“It’s beautiful, ain’t it?” Lance breathed out, smelling of mint and cotton candy and cinnamon discs or elephant ears or whatever the hell they were called. Keith nodded his agreement. Keith loved all of it – all of him – and Lance continued to speak as breathlessly as Keith felt, “You’re beautiful.”

Keith felt his face warm up and mouth fall open in surprise as Lance turned shy. He saw his eyes track down to Keith’s lips, and time felt like it had stopped. He glanced down at Lance’s lips, and licked his own subconsciously. Lance’s eyes grew slightly wider and looked back into Keith’s.

Keith’s heart was beating erratically, and his breaths were coming out hot and heavy and unsure. He felt the seat they were in swing back and forth as they came to the top and it stopped. Lance’s lips parted and he whispered, so quietly that Keith almost missed it, “Can I kiss you?”

He said it more as an unbelieving, astonished statement, rather than a question. Keith gulped and nodded and replied, “ _yes_ ,” all the same, and Lance’s lips met his softly.

The kiss was incredibly gentle, unlike any other kiss Keith experience. Past kisses he had were always rushed and greedy, starving, urgent bites and licks full of tongue. This kiss was feather-light. It was velvety smooth. It was everything Keith didn’t know he wanted, everything he didn’t know he was missing out on.

The chaste kiss was short, and Lance pulled back looking for _something_ in Keith’s hooded eyes. Apparently he found it, because he went in for another, this time with slightly more pressure, slightly more confidence. Keith hummed contentedly, tracing his tongue along Lance’s bottom lip. The innocent kiss took a turn and suddenly it was a fight between tongues, a friendly spar like they’d done a hundred times before in the gym just down the street.

The kiss still felt meaningful, though. It felt soft and kind and loving. Keith felt loving and he felt loved. He felt like he wanted to give Lance everything he had.

Keith was in a daze, and hadn’t taken a second yet to soak up the moment, to remember it forever. He was always bad at that, living in the moment. He always felt the world was rushing by him and he’d forget everything that had happened before it was too late. Things weren’t like that with Lance, who slowed down the world, stopped it even, and took Keith gently by the hand.

Keith felt Lance’s warm and smooth hands cupping his jaw, his body shifting towards him to get a better angle. That seemed to be a mistake, as the seat shifted and Keith accidentally bit down on Lance’s bottom lip, eyes wide and gasp falling from his mouth. Lance let out a strangled noise at the contact and they pulled their lips away from each other.

“Sorry- I, I don’t know-” Keith began to ramble. _This kiss was a mistake he probably will hate me forever knowing I could hurt him when we’re both just at our most vulnerable-_

“Keith, calm down. It’s okay,” Lance let out a breathy laugh and brushed Keith’s bangs out of his face and behind his ear. He then shifted back again so his body was facing forward like before, “You are one hell of a kisser, I gotta say.”

Keith bloomed into a blush, and seriously he’s got to get better about containing that because they _literally just swapped saliva and he was blushing over a freaking compliment-_

“Thanks, uh- you too,” Keith said uncooly, and grimaced. They were quiet a bit, so Keith just decided to say what’s on his mind. “Beautiful view, huh?” He said as he stared straight at Lance, not glancing around at the sparkling night sky or glowing lights. _Lance, you’re so goddamn beautiful I can’t ever set my mind straight around you,_ is what Keith really wanted to say, but that was a little too bold for Keith this early in the game, he was still hesitant and shy and nervous and embarrassed around Lance.

Lance finally, _finally_ turned his face back to Keith with the faintest blush dotting his freckled cheeks and said, “Beautiful, indeed.” Keith smiled dumbly while he didn’t realize that Lance was slapping himself in his mind.

They were reaching the end of the ride, nearing the platform once again, so Lance quietly asked, “I think it’s implied by now, but Keith…” Keith’s heart stuttered and his breath hitched and it felt like _a million years_ before Lance finished his thought, “Will you, you know, be my boyfriend?” The tall, lean, tan, gorgeous, million-leagues-out-of-his-own-league glanced down, shy, and reached his hand up to scratch the back of his neck.

Keith felt a sudden burst of courage and grabbed Lance’s hand with his own. He let out a jumbled mess of words to say, “Lance I would fucking love to be your boyfriend.”

They locked eyes and were about to lean in for the third kiss of the night when the seat halted and the guy manning the ride looked at them with a bored expression. They exchanged glances and giggles, and the guy opened the bar and let them off the ride. They joined hands again, chatting idly, smiles never faltering, as they made their way back to the group.

»

Sitting around the campfire, walking along the water as the group ventured later into the night, felt an awful lot like Keith’s first experience with the group. He remembered how nervous he’d felt meeting new people, seeing Lance for a second time, even using alcohol to chill out a bit. He laughed back on the memory, overcome with the sudden feeling that he’s just a plain stupid idiot. He couldn’t be happier now; he can’t even imagine heading home for the fall season.

The group is seated around a fire, as they often find themselves when hanging out together, sharing stories and roasting hotdogs – cliché stuff, the usual. Lance sings his campfire songs, Keith smiles and eats his s’mores, and they all laugh drunkenly and high off of happiness.

Keith feels a sudden bout of cheesiness, but shrugs it off to enjoy the moment. He reaches for Lance’s hand when he sets his guitar aside to take a break from songs, and drags him out to walk barefoot in the sand in and along the water. Lance smiles down at him and they just walk for a bit in their usual comfortable silence. Keith feels so content. So damn happy around Lance, he doesn’t even care what their doing – he’ll always be happy around him.

Lance finally pulls him down to sit in their swimming trunks right at the edge of the water, where the tide pulls in an out. Keith finds himself remembering the night he freaked on Lance when he played him that song, that night of their not-date. He smiles again – again, again, again, he’s _always_ smiling with this man – and rests his head on Lance’s shoulder, burrowing into his side with a sigh at the warmth and comfort he brings. _How could I have been missing this all summer long? Oh right, I have trust issues I- okay I’m gonna shut my thoughts up don’t ruin this fucking moment for me-_

“Can I ask you somethin’?” Lance’s voice comes softly.

“Always,” Keith squeezes his hand for emphasis.

“What are you doing after summer? I mean, I want to be with you, wherever you are, no matter what, but I’d like to prepare myself if you’re going to go back across the globe,” Lance says sadly, but with no malice or hurt in his voice. He comes off in understanding, in support, and Keith loves every bit of it.

“I actually, uh,” Keith clears his voice, feeling put on the spot, though he knew this conversation was coming, “I’ve actually been looking for a job here. I want to stay.”  
Keith realizes it sounds like he’s putting off his life to vacation in a tropical place with some boy, but Lance isn’t just _some boy._ And anyway, Keith has been happier here than he’d been at college or even since he’d been living with Shiro. He couldn’t do that anymore anyway, since Shiro and Adam were getting married in a few months. Being here though, with Pidge and Lance and Kosmo, with all the rest of their friends… he finally felt like he belonged.

“Wh- really?!” Lance shot up, gripping Keith’s shoulders to look at him with wide eyes. Keith nodded, a big smile slowly covering his face and Lance pulled him in for a tight hug. He nuzzled his face into Keith’s neck, into his hair, leaving soft, small kisses all over his face.

“Shiro was right, I needed a change a scenery, but I think this is where I’m meant to be. There’s so much here, including you of course, but not only you,” Lance pouted at that, jokingly, and Keith pushed on, “that if I left, I feel like I’m leaving part of me behind. There’s too much here I grown with, moved on from _that_ with, that I can’t- _won’t_ lose it.”

Keith had been furrowing his eyebrows, but they relaxed as Lance’s thumbs brushed lightly over his cheeks, “I’m so glad to hear that. I would’ve let you go if you wanted to leave, but I don’t _want_ you to go.”

Keith smiled and went in for a kiss, no warning, no thinking. Lance immediately reciprocated though, and everything felt so _right_. He pulled away and announced, “I asked Pidge and Hunk and they said there’s some openings at their workplace. Coran said he’ll employ me as long as I need, too. Also, Allura even offered to get me an internship at this one company-”

Keith rambled on about all the opportunities he hadn’t previously realized were offered to him up on a silver platter here. His friends could pull strings and promised to support him through and through and _Lance…_ he knew Lance would always be here. Lance carded his hands through Keith’s hair, sighing.

“ _Eres lo major que me ha pasado_ , Mullet,” he whispered, and Keith darted his eyes back at him.

“Wh- what did you say. Stop making fun of my hair, I don’t have a mullet!” Keith insisted, obliviously attributing teasing to Lance’s heartfelt confession. Lance only smiled and refused to reveal the true words, and they broke into playful wrestling, ending in kissing, of course.

After a bit, they settled down, just cuddling and sitting together, looking out at the ocean.

Keith had been confused about who he was, how to deal with his past, what he was going to do with his life, and so many more things at the start of the summer. He’d been stuck up on all of that up until meeting Lance. He’d taken his breath away with his golden, glowing skin. Bright, blue eyes. Soft, brown, curly locks. Even his stupid classic bus that Keith teased him about relentlessly.

Lance had taken away his worries, made him feel safe. He’d been patient, he’d been kind, and most of all, he’d been a friend when that’s what Keith needed the most. He’d waited till he was ready, and now Keith doesn’t know how he’d gotten through anything before this beautiful boy had shown up in his life.

Keith looked out at the water, gently moving over their toes that sunk into the cold sand. It pushed and pulled, and Keith felt himself hypnotized by the sounds of the waves, the salty smell, the warmth emanating from Lance beside him. He felt similar to the water, felt connected. He felt the push and pull, the confusion, the confliction. He felt it all, and he smiled softly to himself.

He couldn’t imagine that this would be the place to steal his heart, that this would be the boy to steal his heart. He couldn’t have guessed at the start of the awfully hot and sweaty summer, he’d never want to leave this place. That he’d want to be here the rest of his life, sunburns and all.

But, that was just Lance. That was Cuba. That was Pidge and Allura and Hunk. That was Kosmo, how they’d met seemingly relying on fate.

Keith felt surrounded by the water, but he didn’t feel like drowning like he had before. He felt like he was floating aimlessly, relaxed and content and just _there_. He felt like everything might turn out okay, and he felt okay with _that._

Keith glanced to the water and then back to his boyfriend, who was humming a quiet, random tune.

Yeah, Keith would be alright. He was already falling back in love, wasn’t he? And if love was enough to bring him back to happiness, to a group and a beautiful place and a beautiful boy where he belonged, then it was definitely enough to get him through any other hardships out there. _Bring it on, motherfuckers, I’m ready for you. I’ve moved on and you can’t beat me back down, not again._

Keith felt his heart surge and said, “Lance, I really like you.”

Not quite ready to confess to his love, but Lance knew what he meant all the same.

“I really _really_ like you too, Keith.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this story im working on a new klance fic! There's already 14k words written, it's about the voltron gang doing chaotic things in a small town setting. ;)

**Author's Note:**

> I've been obsessed with vw buses lately and I think lance would love them too and Keith would make fun of him for it (but secretly love it too)
> 
> Lance in this story is gonna go through ups and downs of confident and insecure sooo ye but it won't be too angsty I don't like lots of angst lol jsut the normal amount
> 
> Title is based on the song feelings are cliche by Olivia willhite


End file.
